Homecoming from Hogwarts

"Never mind—"

Furong, who was standing on the second step glass, said with a smile,
"I was just kidding you."

But Hermione just looked sullen and unmoved.

"I'll bet you all my Sickles, Harry."

Ron leaned over to Harry's ear and whispered,

"Hermione is at odds with Fleur because of Professor Blaine."

Harry and Ron both knew that Hermione admired Professor Braine as much as she had once admired Gilderoy Lockhart.

"Hermione just doesn't appreciate Fleur's flamboyant style."

Harry shook his head in disagreement and expressed his opinion.

When Fleur stepped onto the second plank, the next few steps became clear to her.

Fleur handed her arm to Hermione, and the two girls repeated their previous movements and squatted again.

After hesitating for a moment, Furong still went up the stairs on the right.

She held her breath, carefully stepped out from the left side of the second step and placed one foot on the right side of the third step, her eyes fixed on the glass plate on the third step that reflected the two meteors.

There was another breath-holding silence.

This time Furong was lucky, the stairs she chose did not break.

Well, they have now identified the correct pedals for the first three steps.

After two consecutive successes, the people waiting on the platform finally relaxed. It was now certain that the plan proposed by Victor was feasible.

Although slow, at least it is safe.

The first step was finally free, and after some discussion, several boys let Luna go first.

Fleur and Hermione continued to open up the passage in a difficult and clumsy way. After two or three minutes, they found a safe passage that was large enough for everyone to get on the glass plank road.

Luna was followed by Viktor, then Cedric, Harry followed Cedric, and Ron was the last to reach the plank path.

I have to say that the environment created by Professor Brian is quite shocking.

Although they all knew that it was impossible to die by falling off the plank road.

But the loneliness that this environment, which is extremely similar to the space of the universe and the starry sky, brings to people is indeed very real.

Especially when they walked slowly up more than a dozen steps, the platform behind them was like a small boat in the deep sea at night, moving away from the light source.

The feeling of helplessness and terror, as if standing on the top of an abyss, is indescribable.

After being in this situation for a long time, the tormented contestants may even have the urge to jump into the abyss to find relief.

"How far away is that thing from us?"

After struggling to climb five or six steps, Viktor couldn't help but complain.

The glowing object seemed to be brighter in everyone's field of vision, but its exact location was still impossible to accurately determine.

It seems to be within reach, yet it seems to be far away.

call.
After getting Fleur to the safety of the next step, Hermione sighed tiredly and rubbed her sore arm.

Fleur wasn't much better off. Her arm, where Hermione had grabbed it, was extremely sore, and there were palm-shaped bruises on it.

"I can take your place, Hermione."

Luna, who was following behind Hermione, gently touched Hermione's shoulder.

"I went through the same training as you, Hermione."

After hesitating for a moment, Hermione shook her head and refused.

"You are injured, Luna, this will cause the wounds on your body to burst. I just need to rest for a while."

The advancing team stopped temporarily.

In such a depressing environment, no one had any desire to chat, but instinctively looked for more light.

The brightest place in this space is undoubtedly the boundless starry sky above their heads.

Furong mumbled something quietly while gently rubbing the bruises on her arms, she looked up at the shooting stars that occasionally streaked across the sky.

Suddenly, I discovered that meteors began to fall one by one from the galaxy light years away.

But before that, it seemed like it was alternating between one and two, which was not right. It was two and two, which was not right either. Sometimes it was two and sometimes it was one?
Furong shook her head and threw this boring question out of her mind. "Go on."

The joy of finding a way forward was far away from Hermione's mind. She now just wanted to end this annoying level as soon as possible.

A group of people silently stood up from the glass plate where they were sitting cross-legged and continued to move forward.

The sudden feeling of heaviness in her arm indicated that the plank path Furong chose to take on the next step to the right was wrong.

Hermione gritted her teeth and pulled Fleur up onto the glass panel on the left.

"Feel sorry--"

Fleur gasped twice and whispered to Hermione, she saw the pained expression on Hermione's face as she pulled her to her feet.

“It was pure luck.”

Hermione said, shaking her head.

This is indeed the case. This choice depends entirely on luck and there is no pattern to follow. However, Furong couldn't help feeling a little anxious.

She had to try to make the right choice, otherwise, neither she nor Hermione would be able to hold out for much longer.

Staring at the two meteors reflected on the next glass plate, Furong bit her lip and chose the right side again.

click-
The sound of shattering in her ears made Furong feel sad. She made the wrong choice again.
Hermione was ready to pull Fleur up. Her body was tense, her other hand tightly grasping the edge of the glass she was standing on, holding her breath -
One second, two seconds, three seconds.
Hermione let go of Fleur's arm and stared at the glass panel under Fleur's feet in surprise.

"Didn't I make the wrong choice?"

Furong's expression was equally confused. She turned her head to look at the faces behind her who had the same expression.

"It seems so."

Hermione said hesitantly.

"What was that sound just now?"

Viktor asked.

Click!

At this time, the same sound appeared. The little wizards who had heard it many times could confirm that this was the sound of glass panels shattering.

Everyone's numb emotions were suddenly aroused, and their dull faces showed shock!

"What's going on? Where did the sound come from?"

Harry asked loudly, his throat tightening.

Everyone standing in a line subconsciously checked the glass plate under their feet, but found nothing wrong.

After only about ten seconds, the sound of glass breaking was heard again, and it sounded much clearer!

The crisp cracking sound coming from the boundless darkness shook everyone's thoughts like thunder, making them dizzy.

"I see!"

Hermione was the first to react. She fixed her eyes on the direction they came from and shouted in horror,

"Those safe panes of glass we were walking through are shattering!"

One second of silence seems as long as eternity!
"how so!"

Ron turned around hurriedly and stared in horror at the impenetrable darkness behind him.

"Probably"

Hermione gritted her teeth and said,
"Time's up. This competition probably has a time limit. If we exceed the time limit, the plank road under our feet will break apart one by one!"

"Then what to do now!"

Harry also started to panic, because the glowing object was still far away from them!
"We have to leave quickly."

Cedric called out in an urgent voice.

Physical fatigue would be ignored in extremely tense situations. Hermione stepped onto the same staircase as Fleur and said anxiously,
"There's no need to be picky. The probabilities are the same. Next, take the stairs on the right!"

Fleur took a breath and nodded vigorously.

Everyone's nerves were stretched to the limit, but their speed of progress was always limited by those faulty glass panels.

However, the continuous shattering sounds behind them showed no mercy to them, and rang out one after another like a death knell.

A few minutes later, the glass plate five body lengths away turned into dust and fell into the abyss under Ron's desperate gaze! (End of this chapter)