Hogwarts Raven's Claw

Chapter 164: Top Eight Draw (Part )

A few days later, the draw for the quarterfinals of Hogwarts' first dueling tournament began in the hall.

Mike, Cedric and others were waiting in a small room backstage in the auditorium to go on stage for the drawing ceremony. These past few days, Mike had been following Professor Flitwick's instructions before he left and kept a low profile. Apart from continuing to monitor Percy through the Marauder's Map every day, he did not continue to participate in the investigation of Percy.

The news that Mike had originally expected, that Percy would be caught by Dumbledore soon and the Horcrux notebook would be destroyed, did not appear. Hogwarts was calm these days, just like Mike had not told Flitwick and others about the Horcruxes a few days ago.

On the contrary, what happened in front of the eagle-head door knocker that day gradually spread throughout Hogwarts.

Most people were on Mike's side. After all, this incident was almost entirely caused by Percy, and he deserved the severe punishment he received. There were even many Slytherins who used this incident to criticize and ridicule the Gryffindor students.

However, there were still a small number of Gryffindor youngsters who firmly stood on Percy's side. Even though they blocked the door of the Ravenclaw common room, the punishment Percy received was too severe, while Mike, who was the first to injure people, got away with nothing. They felt that this was extremely unfair.

However, Mike didn't care about this at all. These people who only help their relatives and ignore others were a minority even in Gryffindor and couldn't cause any trouble. On the contrary, Mike was very worried because there was no news about Professor Flitwick after so many days. In the past few days, even Professor McGonagall was teaching the Charms class.

"What's wrong with you? Didn't you sleep well last night?"

Cedric on the side seemed to notice that something was wrong with Mike's condition and asked.

"Thank you, I'm fine."

Hearing this, Mike slapped his face twice, forcing himself to cheer up.

"Don't pay attention to him, he just had a fight with his girlfriend." At this time Carol suddenly appeared and said to Cedric.

"I didn't quarrel with Penelope, please don't tarnish her innocence."

Facing Mike's denial, Carol crossed her arms and raised her head and said, "You still say no, Penelope told me that you never went to comfort her after the Percy incident, and you didn't take any action even when she ignored you on purpose. I've seen a lot of men like you, cold violence!"

Seeing that Carol was almost pointing at him and calling him a scumbag, Mike was speechless.

He admitted that recently his mind was all on improving his own strength and Percy, and he had somewhat neglected Penelope, but things were not as bad as Carol said.

Just when Mike was extremely embarrassed and didn't know how to explain, Lockhart, who was wearing a feather crown and dressed very extravagantly, suddenly pushed open the door of the room.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's your turn!"

At this moment, Mike only felt that Lockhart's greasy voice sounded so pleasant. He stood up and came to Lockhart's side, while Carol continued to look at Mike as if he was a scumbag.

Lockhart was obviously a little surprised by Mike's reaction, but he thought Mike was just eager to go on stage, so he patted Mike on the shoulder with a smile.

The other two Slytherin contestants were very dissatisfied with Mike's behavior of taking the lead, and finally Cedric followed with a wry smile. "Everyone! Let us warmly welcome the eight strongest players of this duel competition! The first one walking towards us is... Mike!"

After hearing Lockhart calling his name, Mike stepped onto the stage. As soon as he appeared in the auditorium, he aroused cheers from everyone in the auditorium, but among the cheers there were a few boos. Although they were still few, Mike still heard them.

Mike didn't care about this. After waving to everyone, he stood in a corner of the stage, watching everyone's heart and nose.

He didn't need to guess to know that those very few black fans were probably all from Gryffindor. After all, he had eliminated Percy, the favorite to win the championship, and reduced Gryffindor's chances of winning.

There was no "amazing" decoration in the auditorium today. Lockhart's bizarre aesthetic finally aroused the dissatisfaction of other professors in Hogwarts, who warned him not to make any more jaw-dropping renovations to Hogwarts Castle.

Like Mike, Lockhart ignored the boos from the audience and continued to call out the names of the remaining top eight.

As Lockhart called out the names of the contestants, one contestant after another came onto the stage, and the audience below did not hesitate to applaud.

Carol and Cedric received much more applause and cheers than Mike. Cedric was handsome, strong, and a good person. Carol gained a lot of fans in the 12-to-8 match. Everyone was conquered by her heroic figure rushing towards the huge fireball.

The other contestants received much less applause, especially the Slytherin contestant who was the last to perform.

This player had originally been eliminated, but because Percy was forced to withdraw from the competition, he became the new top eight through the loser group competition. No one recognized his strength.

And because of his joining, the personnel ratio of the top eight became: Gryffindor 2, Slytherin 3, Ravenclaw 2, Hufflepuff 1. Slytherin surpassed Gryffindor in number due to Percy's withdrawal, which was one of the reasons why Gryffindor students disliked Mike.

"Alright! All the top eight are here, and we're finally going to start drawing lots!" Lockhart waved his wand, and a huge gilded lottery box shining with golden light appeared in front of everyone. "The way to draw lots is very simple. There are a total of 8 slips of paper in this lottery box, with 4 numbers from one to four written on them. Those who draw the same number will become opponents! Alright! Let's get started! Mike, you're the first one."

Mike put his hand into the lottery box with an expressionless face. As soon as his hand was in, Mike felt a strong and irregular wind blowing in the box, and the pieces of paper were carried by the hurricane and flying in the lottery box.

I grabbed one at random and opened it, only to see a big 1 written on it.

"Mike has drawn number 1!" Lockhart held the note high up to the audience, "Next one! Carol!"

Carol also came forward upon hearing the voice, and the number she drew was actually the same as Mike's, 1!
After Lockhart announced the number, there was a burst of discussion in the audience.

"It's over! There's a civil war in Ravenclaw. I was hoping that Senior Carol would meet Mike in the finals."

"Great! Now whoever wins Ravenclaw will only have one contestant left!"

Ignoring the discussions in the audience and the strange looks from other contestants, Mike and Carol's eyes met, and at that moment, sparks seemed to appear in the air.

(End of this chapter)