Homecoming from Hogwarts

"Merlin's beard."

Ron bent over and gasped heavily. He looked in the direction they had come from. The trees no longer broke inexplicably, and the soft layer of dead leaves on the ground no longer suddenly sank.

This means that they have finally escaped from the pursuit of those monsters.

Ron retched continuously as if he was going to vomit his heart out. Harry, who was physically stronger, walked over, patted Ron on the back, and cast a horrified look at Hermione.

"What on earth are Thestrals, Hermione, and why can't you and Ron see them!"

Hermione held onto a beech tree, her brown hair stuck to the sweat on her cheeks. Because she had just run too fast, her face was scratched by the wildly growing branches, leaving several bloody marks. Drops of bright red blood slid down her side face.

"Because neither Ron nor I have ever seen death—"

Hermione wiped her face, which made her look even more embarrassed. She looked back at Harry, knowing that he didn't understand, and tried to calm her disordered breathing, and continued,

"The Thestrals are mysterious creatures that can only be seen by those who have seen death, Harry."

“I have seen death.”

Harry repeated it in a daze, and then suddenly remembered the cemetery where Voldemort was resurrected, Karkaroff who was torn to pieces by dozens of Cruciatus Curses, and Barty Crouch who committed suicide tragically.

Then Harry realized that when Karkaroff and old Barty died, Hermione and Ron were in a coma, so he was the only one who could see the Thestrals.

"--Tamed Thestrals are perfect mounts. They are docile and have a great sense of direction. Just tell them your destination and they will take you there."

"docile?!"

Ron screamed.
"These monsters just tried to kill us!"

"I told you, Ron, it's a tamed Thestral," said Hermione angrily.

"The one we just encountered was wild!"

The three of them slumped under the beech tree again, with wet dead leaves under their buttocks. The surveillance cameras above their heads were still following them stubbornly, but they no longer cared about their image on the screen.

"I really hope we're not the only ones who are unlucky."

Ron glared at the surveillance camera hovering above their heads with hatred, as if he wanted to accuse Professor Brain through the camera.

There were growing vines and large bushes all around.

Although it had not been more than three hours since he got up, the thrilling adventure in the past half hour had already made Harry tired enough. He laid his bent legs flat, looked at his muddy shoes, and was deeply grateful that his shoes had not fallen off during the rush just now.
Wait, half an hour?
Harry's drooping eyelids immediately widened, but before he could remind her, Hermione had already taken action.

She curled up her legs with difficulty and pulled out the blackboard map that was stuffed tightly in her pocket.

The map was still the same as when I had just received it from Professor Brian, with no changes.

"Oh, how long have we been running, Harry!"

Hermione grabbed Harry's wrist, wiped the muddy water off the watch Professor Brain gave Harry to check the time, and screamed,
“Let’s not miss anything!”

Ron immediately leaned over as well, and the three heads huddled together to confirm the time.

Harry checked the time once when he walked out of the dark passage. Now, the minute had crossed a little more than two large grids on the dial.
"Half an hour. Oh, there should be two or three minutes left. I don't think we missed it."

Harry was also frightened. The location was marked for only half a minute, and if they missed it, it would be fatal.

So, the three of them didn't dare to take their eyes off the blackboard for a moment.

As she concentrated, the woods were eerily quiet. Hermione could hear the heartbeats and breathing of the three of them, as well as the sound of the seconds ticking across the dial on Harry's watch.

"Speaking of -"

The small dial reflected three pale, sweaty faces. Ron suddenly wanted to say something, but before he could say anything, he was forced back by Hermione's stern gaze.

Suddenly, the blackboard with some transparent green lines drawn on it lit up!
When the fluorescent light illuminated the faces of the three people, the three nervous people subconsciously held their breath.

Four bright spots appeared on the blackboard, three of them were blue and only one was red.

Hermione immediately understood that the red bright spot with a small arrow probably represented them.

She jumped up from the ground, holding the blackboard map in both hands and spinning in a circle. The arrow connected to the red dot on the map that represented them also started spinning in place. The three of them realized that the arrow was pointing in the direction the person holding the map was facing.

"This thing can be very useful when you are lost!"

Ron laughed hoarsely, but neither Harry nor Hermione said anything. Instead, they pursed their lips and continued to stare at the map intently, seeming very nervous.

Coincidentally, their location was right near the middle of the map, and the blue dot closest to them on the map was only two squares away from them.

The other two bright spots are much farther away, one in the upper left corner and the other in the upper right corner, almost at the border of the map, about ten miles away from each of them.

“How much distance does one grid represent?”

Harry fixed his eyes on the bright spot closest to them and keenly grasped the key to the problem.

"have no idea--"

The sudden sense of crisis made Hermione lower her voice.
"We can only figure it out on our own!"

Ron stared nervously at the unpredictable forest in front of him, as if the enemy might jump out from behind the trees swaying slightly in the wind at any time.

Harry raised his wand as well, looking at the shadowy shapes that dangled from the overgrown branches, as if they might attack at any moment.

Thirty seconds passed in a flash, the four bright spots disappeared, and the blackboard fell silent.

The three people's eyes met again, and Harry looked at Hermione cautiously.

"Whoever they are, we have to go check it out, right?"

Harry said, and immediately added,

“They’ll come to us, too.”

This goes without saying. According to the rules, only the team with the most school badges can win. If the four teams want to be invincible, they must have at least two school badges in their hands. If they have three, they will definitely win.

"We've got to do this differently, Harry, Ron -"

After devoting herself to the game, Hermione regained some of the calmness and decisiveness she had in the last thrilling moment when facing the dragon in the first match.
"The next step will be a skirmish. The environment in the forest is very complicated. If the enemy finds us first, we will be in a passive position. Therefore, we have to hide our whereabouts."

"If we had an Invisibility Cloak."

Harry exhaled heavily and said unwillingly.

"I can use the Disillusionment Charm,"

Hermione said,
"I'm really grateful that I learned this magic before the game. But it doesn't rule out that other teams will also use this magic. At least, Cedric will definitely use it. This is something we will learn in the sixth grade spells class, so we still have to--"

"Hey!"

Ron suddenly interrupted Hermione's concentrated analysis, and when Harry and Hermione's eyes were focused on his face, he frowned and said,
"Don't you feel something is wrong?"

Something is wrong.
Harry and Ron looked at each other, and Hermione asked cautiously,

"What do you mean, Ron?"

“That firework.”

Ron held his breath as he looked Harry and Hermione in the eyes.

"You all saw it. Doesn't this mean someone has given up? But why are there still four teams on the map?"

Harry and Hermione frowned, while Ron swallowed and continued to stare.
"Besides, didn't you notice that we overlooked something?"

Ignored something.
Harry blinked and suddenly understood, and Hermione beside him exclaimed,
"You mean"

"Those students in gym class."

Ron said in a serious tone,
"Professor Blaine didn't explain why they were in the Forbidden Forest."

(End of this chapter)