“Alright, Hermione, you should rest for a bit now. We’ll set off promptly at 11:30.”
Weilan’s mind was filled with thoughts of what to prepare.
The Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder’s Map were definitely necessary.
Besides that, he remembered there were some spells that could be used in an emergency against a Dragon.
As Weilan thought, he carried the book “caring for dragons” back to his dormitory.
He covered his head with his quilt, tucked in all the edges, and then lit his wand under the covers.
He tucked the corners of the quilt very tightly, ensuring that the light from his wand wouldn’t leak out, which made the air inside the quilt a bit thin.
Resisting the slight feeling of suffocation, Weilan opened the Dragon rearing guide he had carefully chosen.
“Let me see… Common Dragon Breeds.”
“Dragon Feed.”
“Handling Female Dragon Estrus.”
“Oh, found it — Spells for Dealing with Dragons in Emergency Situations.”
Weilan read ravenously.
Although there was no opportunity to practice, it was always right to understand some ways to deal with the worst-case scenarios before seeing a Dragon.
“Dragons’ weakness is their eyes.”
“So if you are very unlucky and anger a Dragon, then before it flattens or scorches you, you can try to attack its eyes.”
“Eye Disease Curse, Conjunctivitis, an offensive magic that causes severe pain, swelling, or temporary blindness in the target’s eyes, interfering with its visual ability.”
“When casting this spell, pay attention to the waving posture of the wand in your hand; it requires…”
“During the period when the spell makes the Dragon’s eyes red and swollen and its vision poor, poor Wizard, run away quickly!”
Weilan believed this was the most useful spell in the entire book.
Because other spells, such as Stupefy, and Extinguishing Spells, required several adult Wizards to exert force together to subdue a Dragon.
There was also an Anti-Shock and Slowing Spell, which was used to rescue those thrown into the air by Dragons.
The Eye Disease Curse only required one Wizard to attack the Dragon’s eyes to control it.
Although this spell couldn’t perform some delicate tasks very well, such as snatching a golden egg from under a Dragon’s claws — but facing an out-of-control Dragon, holding it back and then escaping was enough.
Weilan calmed his mind and firmly imprinted the spell-casting methods from the book into his brain.
The time for half past eleven arrived.
Weilan quietly crept out of bed and got dressed.
Taking the Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder’s Map, Weilan pushed the dormitory door open a crack.
The light from the torches outside shone through the gap into the dark dormitory. Neville’s bed emitted snoring sounds, Seamus slept very quietly, and Dean waved his arms, mumbling something in his sleep.
It sounded like:
“Ronsky feint — beautiful! —”
Weilan shook his head and skillfully squeezed his body through the opened door crack.
Ron was already standing at the dormitory door, waiting for him for a long time.
They went downstairs, and only Hermione was in the common room. After the three met, they opened the portrait hole.
“You sneaking out in the middle of the night, you’d better have a very urgent matter.”
The Fat Lady, who was sleeping, was very displeased about being disturbed from her good dream. She glared at the three of them angrily.
“Sorry, Madam, we’ll be back very soon.”
Weilan pulled his friends and slipped down the stairs without looking back.
On the stairs, the Fat Lady’s gasp came:
“What, you mean, you’re going to wake me up again at dawn?”
They put on the Invisibility Cloak in the dead corner of the stairs and took out the Marauder’s Map.
After bypassing the patrolling Filch, Weilan led Hermione and Ron straight to Hagrid’s hut.
The outdoor night in early winter was very cold, but fortunately, Weilan and the other two were huddled under the Invisibility Cloak. The body heat of the three struggled against the cold air, allowing them to barely hold on.
“Knock, knock.”
Weilan lightly knocked on Hagrid’s hut door.
The small door creaked open halfway, and Weilan quickly led Hermione and Ron inside.
The stove fire in the house was burning brightly, and Hagrid brewed a cup of hot tea for each of them.
“Are you going to see someone important?”
Ron asked Hagrid.
For no other reason, Hagrid was dressed too unusually.
A fresh flower was stuck in his buttonhole, looking like an unusually large artichoke. There were still broken teeth from a comb in his hair, making one believe he had definitely spent a lot of effort combing his hair.
“Hehe, I will also invite a lady to go with me to admire those big babies, you’ll know when you see them. Trust me, we won’t bring Fang, he won’t like it…”
After warming up, they put on the Invisibility Cloak again and followed Hagrid out of the hut.
Hagrid helped Madam Maxime down from the Beauxbatons carriage. Ron almost cried out because of this:
“They’re actually in love? Ah, I can’t imagine how huge their children would be!”
“Calm down, Ron.” Hermione said to him from the side, “We’re just watching from the side to see what the first task is, to satisfy our curiosity…”
Under the clear moonlight, they slowly walked along the edge of the Forbidden Forest. The Castle and its lights gradually disappeared behind them.
Madam Maxime repeatedly assured Hagrid that she would not tell anyone what she saw.
However, Weilan heard two stifled laughs from behind him when Madam Maxime gave her assurance.
“She’s definitely going to tell Fleur.”
“Hagrid is so foolish, really, he’s already been Imperio!”
Hermione and Ron could both see clearly. But Hagrid continued to lead Madam Maxime forward.
Light shone through the bushes ahead, and they quickened their pace to go over. Hagrid pushed aside the bushes with his large hand —
“My goodness! It’s Dragons!”
Ron whispered, making a heavily restrained low sound.
What appeared before them were three Dragons, confined in an enclosure made of thick wooden boards.
Their short, powerful hind legs were supporting their massive bodies to stand upright, spewing flames into the dark, dry, cold night sky.
Weilan and they hid behind the branches, identifying the Dragon features and telling them the Dragon breeds:
“That silver-blue Dragon with a pair of long, pointed horns is a Swedish Short-Snout.”
“That red Dragon, with a circle of strange, thin spikes around its face, is a Chinese Fireball.”
“That black giant Dragon, with long bronze-colored spikes protruding every few inches along its tail, is a Hungarian Horntail.”
Hermione was surprised to find that she was actually being given scientific knowledge ahead of time for once, so she asked Weilan: “How do you know all this?”
Weilan smiled and said nothing.
Although his focus in “caring for dragons” was the Eye Disease Curse, he hadn’t completely ignored other parts of the book.
“Look, Mr. Bagman.” Ron suddenly said, “Why are they here?”
“It’s normal for him to be here.” Weilan didn’t find it strange, “He’s the Ministry of Magic official in charge of the Triwizard Tournament, and tomorrow is the first task, so he needs to be here to confirm the Dragons’ condition.”
Hagrid was talking to Ron’s brother, the Dragon handler Charlie Weasley.
Madam Maxime, who was listening in, showed great interest in these beasts and asked Charlie to allow her to get close to the Dragons.
“Do all big people like these fierce things?” Ron muttered in the bushes.
Weilan also couldn’t remember where in the original book it was written that this big woman liked fierce beasts as much as Hagrid:
“It’s really incredible that Madam Maxime actually likes these things.”
Mr. Bagman also didn’t drive Madam Maxime away, letting her clearly see the events.
Mr. Bagman was talking about his own tasks:
“Alright, I’ve checked all the golden eggs one by one, and they’re all fine. We just have to wait for the champions to show their skills tomorrow and snatch them from under the Dragons!”
“Finally, let me confirm the Dragons’ condition.”
“The competition starts tomorrow, and Mr. Bagman will try his best not to offend anyone.” Weilan thought.
A very young-looking Dragon handler led Mr. Bagman through the enclosure, introducing him to the condition of each Dragon.
About seven or eight other Dragon handlers were surrounding the Chinese Fireball, several of them simultaneously casting Stupefy to knock the Dragon unconscious.
“Alright!” one of them said, “Just give it a little sedative, just enough to make sure it wakes up tomorrow morning.”
“That’s cool!” Mr. Bagman exclaimed, “Can I touch their scales?”
“Yes, I’ll just touch them too.” Madam Maxime echoed from the side.
“Alright then.” Under the pressure of Mr. Bagman and Madam Maxime’s status, Charlie reluctantly agreed to let the two touch the Dragons.
“But you’ll have to wait for us to knock them all out first.”
The Dragon handlers finally made the three Dragons fall heavily to the ground, completely quiet.
Mr. Bagman and Madam Maxime, both of them curiously touched the Chinese Fireball’s strange-looking head and then touched the Short-Snout’s large, fanged mouth.
Finally, in front of the Hungarian Horntail, Mr. Bagman shivered, startled by it:
“It’s truly mighty, isn’t it? Look, it even has spikes.”
“I won’t touch it, it will scratch my hand.”
In the end, only Madam Maxime touched its big tail.
Mr. Bagman, illuminated by the light source, checked that the golden eggs were safe and sound, then stood up.
After their visit ended, Charlie gathered everyone and read out the precautions for tomorrow.
“Let’s go.” Ron said, “My legs are numb from squatting.”
“Good.” Weilan was very happy that their entire viewing of the Dragons went smoothly, without any trouble.
As for Karkaroff? According to the original plot, he might have already hidden in some dark corner a few days ago, peeking at the task content.
Everyone found out about the competition tasks by their own means.
And Miss Greengrass… Weilan also really wanted to see her true abilities tomorrow.
