Homecoming from Hogwarts

The icy dust in the sky was soon blown away by the rushing cold wind, and vision became clear again.

Harry and Hermione gathered together and gazed in delight at the stone monster that had already stepped onto the stairs.

"At this rate, we'll be able to take down the next one soon!"

Harry said excitedly.

"We have to hurry!"

Hermione tried to calm her excitement.

"The red stone will only protect us for less than four minutes. If we exceed this time, we will have to go out to replenish. I think if we leave the secret realm halfway, our efforts will be in vain!"

Harry nodded, and the two of them planned to rush to the left end of the central axis and do the same to the remaining stone monster.

hum!
However, at this moment, a sudden change occurred!

Under the horrified gazes of Harry and Hermione, who were attracted by the unusual noise, the remains of the stone monster that had just been defeated began to emit an ochre-colored glow!

"What's going on, Hermione?!"

Harry's expression was one of shock and confusion.
"Didn't we defeat it?"

Hermione was no less confused than Harry. She stared blankly at the broken stones wrapped in light on the dueling field below. When these stones began to float in the air under an inexplicable force, Hermione suddenly startled.

"I have a bad feeling about this, Harry."

Hermione's voice trembled.

"Until the situation becomes clearer, I think we'd better play it safe."

Click, click, click.
Seeing the floating objects in the air begin to gather together, Harry shivered a few times.

"I agree with you, Hermione."

It was obvious what was going to happen, so Harry and Hermione didn't continue watching. They ran as fast as they could along the wall, desperately running towards the teleportation stone door.

The sudden fierce roar caused visible ripples in the air, and from the roar, it could be heard that the stone monster, which had been destroyed once, had fallen into complete rage!
Boom!

Harry and Hermione had only run half the distance when they heard a ferocious roar like a dragon's roar from behind, forcing them to stop!
"Run, Hermione!"

At first glance, Harry was frightened to death!
The resurrected stone monster entered a violent state that was completely different from just now!
It stuck its hands into the ground and lifted up two huge blocks of ice and threw them towards them. If they were hit, they would probably be killed!

What's even more terrifying is that the stone crutch that had just stood still finally began to move. Its huge body moving brought people an unparalleled sense of oppression.

The stone monster abandoned its method of attacking with stone eggs and continued to throw huge ice blocks at them as it moved.

The hard stone wall trembled under the bombardment of ice and peeled off in large chunks!

Except for the time in the graveyard where Voldemort was resurrected, Harry had never felt so close to death!

The two of them ran towards the portal desperately, not daring to look back at all!
Bang!
The two people who got behind the portal jumped down from the thirty-foot-high wall. Hermione waved her wand to slow down their landing.

At this moment, a block of ice falling from the sky hit the door frame of the portal, making a hair-raising trembling sound.

Harry's eyes were bulging with anger. If the portal was destroyed, they would definitely be doomed!

Even if exit fireworks were launched, it would be too late for people outside to rescue them.

Fortunately, this portal was strong enough. The ice blocks that were hit shattered into pieces and scattered all over the sky, but the stone portal just shook violently but did not fall down!

The moment they passed through the transparent vortex, Harry and Hermione collapsed in front of the door.

The two men were sweating profusely, their pupils were extremely contracted, and in the crisis of their lives, their bodies were trembling slightly instinctively.

"Are you guys okay?"

Seeing the miserable appearance of the two, Fleur hurried over from the giant ice block that sealed the key. Viktor, Cedric and Luna, who were sitting under the ice, also struggled to get up from the ground and quickly rushed towards them.

Huh. Huh. Huh.
Harry was breathing rapidly, feeling like his heart was about to explode. He looked at Hermione, who was also frightened and in a daze. He opened his mouth several times to ask about Hermione's condition, but could not utter a word.

"What the hell is going on, Harry, Hermione?"

Cedric looked at Harry nervously, while Luna walked around behind Hermione and patted her back gently.

After a while, Harry felt that his scalp was no longer troublesome and his blasted hair roots softened.

"you"

After trying several times, Harry finally managed to make a normal sound.

"How are you, Hermione?"

"Finally you survived, didn't you?" Hermione stood up with the help of Luna. She said in a hoarse voice, and then turned her eyes to the people around her.

"What's going on? Are you all coming out of the secret realm?"

When this question was asked, Cedric and Viktor looked a little unhappy, but Luna looked like she didn't care at all. She said directly,

"Oh, we can't get through, are we trying to figure out a solution?"

This gave Harry and Hermione some comfort. After replenishing their warmth, Harry and Hermione also came under the ice and sat cross-legged like everyone else.

No one spoke and everyone remained silent.

Now, several teams have calmed down from their impetuous urge to get the keys.

"Hey!"

Furong suppressed her temper and waited anxiously for a while, but when no one spoke, she could no longer hold back.
"Why aren't you talking?"

"Because we need to figure out how to pass the challenge behind the door!"

Hermione rolled her eyes at Fleur and said unhappily.

"Then why don't you talk about it?"

Furong said excitedly,

"Maybe I can give you some advice!"

Everyone fell silent again.

Because everyone has anticipated a possibility that if they are unable to overcome the level they currently choose, then it is only a matter of time before they choose a new challenge object.

So, in this case, saying too much is leaking information and nurturing the enemy.

Cough cough--
Seeing that everyone had fallen silent again, Viktor coughed twice. He looked around for a while, looking at the captains of the two Hogwarts teams.
"How about we work together?"

Cooperation?

Everyone looked at each other.

"I mean, we work together to beat a level and then get something that can melt the ice."

Victor added.

"But there's only one key, right?"

Cedric said cautiously,

"How are you going to allocate it?"

"We can see who played a greater role in conquering the level?"

Harry suggested.

"That's a hard thing to define, Harry."

Hermione said, shaking her head.

Victor had obviously thought about this problem long ago. He said quickly,
"It's really hard to make a fair judgement, so my advice is to rely on luck."

By luck?
Everyone looked at Victor quietly, waiting for him to continue.

"After we get the key, we will use Transfiguration to create two identical keys, a total of three keys, two fake and one real. The three teams will draw lots, and whoever picks the real one will get it."

Victor said, noticing the hesitation in everyone's face, he continued,
"No matter who gets the key, in the next round, the team that gets the key must give up the fight and help the team without the key. How about that?"

Hermione's eyebrows twitched slightly.

This arrangement is reasonable, but there is a loophole.

What if there are only two or three keys?
Does this mean that one team is destined to not get the key?

Cedric's lips moved slightly. He was about to point out the loopholes in Viktor's proposal, but then he thought, if there were really only two and they didn't choose one, then there would be nothing to complain about.

Cedric looked at Hermione, and Hermione returned Cedric's gaze.

"Then cooperate!"

The two of them stood up together and spoke in unison.

(End of this chapter)