Ancient wizards return to Hogwarts.

On the second day of Christmas, everyone stayed in bed. The common room of Slytherin College was even quieter than usual. The students who got up huddled in their armchairs, yawning from time to time.

Suddenly, a piercing scream echoed throughout the common room, instantly dispelling everyone's sleepiness.

The young wizards in the lounge looked towards the source of the sound and found Daphne huddled in her usual seat, staring in shock at the golden egg in her hand that had been cracked in two.

It took her a second to recover from the scream and she hurriedly closed the golden egg.

"What's going on? Daphne, what are you doing?" Pansy, who was whispering with Malfoy, was startled and couldn't help but question Daphne who made the loud noise.

Unlike Pansy, other Slytherin students noticed the golden egg in Daphne's hand. They immediately understood that Daphne was trying to crack the secret in the golden egg.

But what does this scream mean? Does it mean that there will be a female ghost in the next stage of the game? Or does it mean that the next stage of the game will be extremely cruel?

Malfoy looked at the golden egg, the terrifying scream still ringing in his ears, and he fell into deep thought.

He recalled the time his father took him to Borgin and Burke's to shop.

[Welcome to Borgin and Burke, honorable Mr. Malfoy, please come here——]

[Sir, you have good taste. This is an alchemical tool made from a mermaid skull. If you open this box in a normal environment, it will only make a shrill scream, but if you open it in water, it will start to sing...]

[Asshole! Didn’t I tell you that you are not allowed to touch anything here without my permission! ]

Malfoy had a deep impression of this memory because it was the first time his father beat him. After he opened the box containing the mermaid skull out of curiosity, Lucius Malfoy beat him hard with his cane several times to remind him that in a store like Borgin and Burke's, he should not touch the goods in the store at will.

The scream in his memory was exactly the same as the sound that came from Daphne's golden egg just now. Malfoy felt as if he had cracked the secret of the golden egg.

His body trembled with excitement: the secret to winning the Global Youth Wizarding Championship was now in his hands!

If Daphne could learn this information before the other contestants, she would have a valuable head start in the competition, and the advantage would snowball into a bigger one, ultimately allowing Hogwarts to win the championship.

but……

Daphne's "get out" reappeared in his mind. Malfoy remembered Daphne's bad attitude towards him, and suddenly he didn't want to reveal this valuable information to her.

However, Daphne was a Slytherin student after all, and she represented Hogwarts in the competition. When Malfoy thought of this, he suddenly felt a little conflicted.

A thought flashed through his mind: If I provide her with this information, perhaps her attitude towards me will change a little?

This thought overwhelmed all other thoughts, and Malfoy decided to reveal the information about the golden egg to Daphne.

Malfoy decided that this was in his best interest.

"Mermaid." Malfoy opened his mouth halfway when Les' voice suddenly sounded behind everyone, blocking the words that Malfoy was about to say.

"That was the voice of a mermaid just now." Under the gaze of everyone in the lounge, Les slowly walked to Daphne, pulled out his wand and pointed it, and the empty cup on the table was filled with water.

“You have to put it in water to hear the real sound.”

Listening to Les' words, Malfoy's teeth were about to break. He hated Les for suddenly showing up, and he also hated himself for not releasing the information earlier.

Now, all the limelight has been stolen by Rice!

"Is that so?!" Daphne gave Les a grateful look, threw the golden egg into the cup of water, then poked it with her wand and the golden egg bounced back.

This time the golden egg did not scream, but sang a few songs. However, due to the layer of water, it was not very clear.

Daphne put her ear against the wall of the cup and listened carefully to the song of the golden egg.

【Come to us, on the first day of the new year, where our singing can be heard.

We have placed our treasures here, come find them, come explore them!

It is the key to a new stage, the ladder to success, and the crutch to help you.

Come on! You have one hour, and after one hour, everything will be in vain.

The mediocre people come and go in a hurry, taking only the keys.

Outstanding people are not afraid of tests or hardships, and they will definitely get more generous rewards! 】

Daphne listened to the song several times in a row, memorizing every word of the song. Then she put the cup with the golden egg on the table and frowned as she thought.

'Who are we? Where is the place where the song comes from? ' She thought for a few seconds, and when she looked up, she felt that she had found the answer.

"We" refers to the mermaids, and the "place" in the song must be the Black Lake at Hogwarts.

After figuring this out, she quickly understood the meaning of the lyrics: on New Year's Day, the contestants had to go to the bottom of the Black Lake and ask the mermaids for one or more treasures, which would be of great help in the next competition. Those who did not get the treasure would be eliminated directly.

The song also reveals two pieces of information. One is that the time is only one hour, and those who exceed the time limit are likely to be eliminated. The other is that it seems that you can get more generous additional rewards by participating in the test, but the test itself may also cause you to exceed the time limit.

After analyzing the message conveyed by the song, Daphne narrowed her eyes: Diving in the Black Lake for an hour in the cold winter is quite a challenge...

She couldn't help but look at Les, and couldn't help thinking: If her domain was water, she would have no worries, but unfortunately her domain was magma.

Les and Daphne made eye contact, and he instantly understood what Daphne meant, and then he almost laughed out loud.

Now you know the water area, right? Rowena, you did a great job!

Rice silently praised Rowena in his heart. He was very happy that the assessment was arranged at the bottom of the Black Lake.

"Les, do you have a way to dive at the bottom of the Black Lake for an hour?" Daphne asked weakly.

"Why not breathe directly in the water?" Rice asked with a smile.

Then he leisurely left the common room, leaving Daphne alone in a daze.

For contestants from various schools, solving the golden egg puzzle is not difficult.

At the latest by the evening of the second day after the festival, the contestants will have figured out what their tasks are.

Now comes the hard part: How are they going to survive an hour-long dive in the freezing cold water?

Unlike Rice, they do not have water domain and cannot move normally in water.

The Christmas holidays of countless people were ruined.

While the contestants and the headmasters behind them were struggling to figure out how to break the impasse, Dumbledore was very relaxed. He met an important guest on the day after Christmas.

"Newt, long time no see! How's Tina?" Dumbledore booked a private room in the Three Broomsticks Bar and met an old acquaintance there.

The visitor was a thin wizard with gray hair but a good look. He had messy hair, wore a navy blue coat, and carried a very worn-out suitcase.

He sat down opposite Dumbledore somewhat nervously and placed the suitcase gently on the ground.

"It's okay. There are occasional quarrels, but I'm used to it. Life in Dorset is peaceful and comfortable. If it weren't for those annoying letters brought by owls, I don't think I would leave there in my life."

Dumbledore ignored the slight sarcasm in his words. He knew Newt's character very well, and he knew that his image in Newt's mind might not be very good.

"Want something to drink?"

"Black tea, please." In the bar, Newt chose to order a cup of black tea, while Dumbledore ordered a glass of butterbeer.

"What exactly do you want to talk to me about? Is there anything that 'only I' can help you with?" After the tea was served, Newt couldn't help but ask the question that had been in his heart for a long time.

"It's about magical creatures."

"Oh?" Newt's interest was piqued. "Are there rare magical animals in the Forbidden Forest of Hogwarts?"

Dumbledore shook his head slowly.

"I need the blood of magical creatures, all kinds of them. You are the only one in the world who can do it." Dumbledore said in a very serious tone.

Newt put his hand directly on his suitcase. He frowned, stared into Dumbledore's eyes and asked, "Professor Dumbledore, may I know why you made this request?"

The blood of magical animals is actually a sensitive topic, because the blood of many magical animals is extremely precious, even the blood of a dragon, which is "common on the street", is very expensive, and one ounce costs nearly one Galleon.

That was Dumbledore. If anyone else had made the same request, Newt would have already run away with his suitcase.

But even if it was Dumbledore, Newt had to know his intentions and give a reply only after careful consideration.

"A new invention has been developed in the school..." Dumbledore told Newt everything about the transformation magic and the transformation fruit tree.

"Some magical animals are so rare that I need your help."

Those powerful magical animals are extremely rare, and only top masters in the field of magical animals like Newt can gather the blood of these animals.

After listening to Dumbledore's words, Newt's doubts and anxieties were not eliminated, but intensified.

"This kind of magic is unheard of..."

“This is also research that has just achieved a breakthrough this year.”

"Is it safe?" Newt asked.

Transfiguration, especially that of the human body, is extremely dangerous, and some magic classifications as high as level 5X are said to be caused by Transfiguration.

It's normal for Newt to have concerns about this.

"I'm sure it's safe."

“But those are only a few forms of transformation that are safe.” Newt knew that Hogwarts had successfully achieved the transformation into a dragon, a basilisk, and a phoenix, but this did not dispel his concerns, because the differences between different magical animals were greater than the differences between humans and bananas.

"We have sufficient safety measures. You have to resonate with the fruit before you can take it. This can minimize the occurrence of side effects."

Dumbledore's words made Newt have the same concerns as Dumbledore had before: Isn't the wizard who can resonate with the naturally violent magical animals also a violent person?

But then he thought, as long as he didn't provide the blood of that kind of magical animal, wouldn't this situation be avoided?

At this point, his ideas had changed a little, and he had tacitly agreed to provide Dumbledore with the blood of magical animals.

"I can find a way to get some blood from the Horned Beast, the Lunar Beast, the Riem Bull, but I have one more question to ask you..." Newt counted on his fingers the blood of magical animals that he could and was suitable to provide, and then reported them to Dumbledore.

But he also raised a question that he was very concerned about: Would this invention of Hogwarts lead wizards in the magical world to frantically pursue the blood of magical animals, bringing disaster to these creatures?

"No." Dumbledore shook his head very confidently.

"There is only one fruit tree like this in the world, and only a few people know how to cultivate the Transformation Fruit. It won't cause any trouble to these animals. Besides, their blood is extremely precious even without the Transformation Fruit Tree, isn't it?"

Newt sighed.

Dumbledore was telling the truth, and all his problems melted away.

"Give me two days and I will send the blood over." Newt partially agreed to Dumbledore's request.

Before leaving, he asked one last question: "I heard that Hogwarts is holding the Young Wizards Tournament? How is it going?"

"all the best."

"That's good. I hope Hogwarts can win."

"Definitely."

Newt nodded slightly to Dumbledore and left the Three Broomsticks.

A few days passed in the blink of an eye, and when the new year arrived, the contestants were shocked to find that the second stage of the championship had quietly arrived.

Regardless of whether the players were ready or not, the second stage of the competition started as scheduled.

On the first day of the new year, snowflakes began to fall outside the window. However, the snow prevented the planned event from going on as planned. All the students at Hogwarts and the eliminated contestants from other magic schools gathered at the shore of Black Lake to watch the second stage of the competition.

A large circle of stands was built on the shore of the Black Lake for the audience to sit in. The contestants were gathered in an open space in front of the stands, waiting for Mr. Henry from the Ministry of Magic and Ludo Bagman to announce the rules of the competition.

After briefly explaining the rules, Bagman cast a loudspeaker spell on himself and said loudly, "Our contestants are already in their positions, and the second stage of the competition is about to begin. They have a full hour to obtain the key props for the next game at the bottom of the lake! I'll count to three, one... two... three, the game begins!"

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Here is the update, good night everyone!

Tomorrow's update will still be at midnight~