Days wandering around Hogwarts

Chapter 382 Intelligence First
In the few days before the start of the competition, the participating teams from Hogwarts, Uagardo and the Institute of Magic all chose to stay indoors and sealed off their respective areas one after another.

Everyone understands that this competition is not like treating someone to a dinner, or painting or embroidery. It cannot be so elegant, so leisurely, so refined, so gentle, courteous, frugal and modest.

Students from other magic schools who came to watch the game discussed the rules of the competition, and the castle terrace was very lively for a while.

On the other side, the students of Hogwarts were also making final preparations.

“This is what the playing field looks like.”

Charles hung a huge map on the wall, surrounded by dozens of freshly developed photos, and the map was drawn based on the photos.

The entrance to the competition venue is about one kilometer away from the castle. It is a circle with a diameter of four kilometers. It contains forests, tundra, woods, rivers and lakes, and the terrain is relatively complex.

The location was no secret, but the students of Kodosdoriz strictly guarded the area and prohibited anyone from spying.

But this did not pose a problem for Charles. He asked Ruby to hold a Shanghai figure and fly over the competition venue. The Shanghai figure was carrying a camera and conducted an aerial reconnaissance.

They studied the rules of the competition and did not find any clause prohibiting anyone from spying on the competition venue in advance. As long as they did not get caught by outsiders, it would be fine.

Everyone speculated that this was probably because Kodosdoriz had a huge home advantage and they were familiar with the terrain, so they left some space for other participating teams.

In the conference room, everyone carefully studied the map and photos together and found that there were six identical cabins on the site.

Seamus asked Charles, "Are these cabins for us to live in?"

If these wooden houses looked different, they might be some kind of material storage points. Now they are the same, so they are most likely operation bases set up to be fair to every team.

Others thought so, but without further evidence,

Charles replied: "It's possible. Let's go scout tonight."

Joyce and Percy discussed it and drew several suspicious locations on the map. These places might be where medicinal materials were hidden and needed to be scouted.

Charles invited Ruby to the map and talked until his saliva dried up. He finally asked it to wait and make another trip.

Not long after, the student who went out to inquire about the news came back and brought back some not-so-good news.

Starting today, many patrols appeared above the competition venue, obviously to guard against Ruby.

Ruby laughed disdainfully.

Everyone got busy next. Ruby went out to scout, Joyce and others continued to discuss the map, and Charles returned to the "Flying Dumbledore" and went straight to the kitchen.

"Hello, boss," the elves working in the kitchen reported to Charles, "We have returned with the ingredients for tomorrow."

Charles went to take a look and saw a lot of fat ducks, and the only vegetables were onions, carrots and potatoes.

Charles thought about it and started to make a snack for Ruby.

The fat duck is still alive and very energetic, and its fighting power is not low.

However, under the Avada Kedavra curse, the duck still fell down.

The working elf helped to bleed the duck and put it on the chopping board, and then Charles took action.

The "Hair Removal Spell" can not only make a person's hairstyle become like Voldemort's, but also remove the feathers from chickens and ducks. However, it is useless against magical animals with high magic resistance such as the phoenix.

The "Flesh and Bone Separation Spell" was even more useful. The duck skeleton seemed to be able to change its shape by itself and appeared in a flash.

Charles put away his wand and ran his fingers along the central axis of the duck's abdomen, instantly opening it up and removing the internal organs.

Then the duck meat, carrots and potatoes were cut into the size of little fingers, so that Ruby could swallow them easily. Charles asked the elf to take the salted fat and cut it into cubes, fry it in a frying pan to get the oil, put the cubes into the pressure cooker, and then fry the duck meat, carrots and potatoes in oil, and finally put them into the pressure cooker.

Add scallions, stock, salt, bay leaves and some pepper to the pressure cooker, cover with lid and simmer for an hour.

At the same time, the students of Kodosdoriz surrounded the competition venue tightly in the air and on the ground, and anti-invisibility spells fell from the sky from time to time to prevent anyone from sneaking into the competition venue.

Although it is tacitly permitted by the rules, we cannot just leave it alone. If you want to see the venue in advance, you have to rely on your own ability to get in.

The students here think they are very familiar with Ruby. After all, it has come here frequently in recent years and even eaten and drank in the cafeteria.

However, Ruby would play and make noises during normal times, but today they had to do serious work, so it would be useless even if they cooked a big pot of beef stew with potatoes.

Ruby flashed directly from Charles' room to the competition venue, put down the Shanghai figure in the woods, and the figure holding the camera flew as fast as possible to the wooden house in the open space ahead.

Charles cast an invisibility spell on the doll and the camera so they wouldn't be seen unless they bumped into anything.

After taking pictures of this wooden house, the puppet returned to the woods and poked Ruby's wings, asking it to take it to the next one.

At dusk, the puppet finished shooting four rolls of film, and then allowed Ruby to lead him to retreat.

Charles was busy all night, developing and drying the film. The next morning, he gave it to others for a meeting and went to catch up on his sleep.

In the afternoon, when he woke up and went to the meeting room, everyone's research had yielded results.

Judging from the internal layout of those wooden houses, they should be the places for the contestants to stay, because there are beds and other things inside, and the number is just right.

The locations of the cabins vary, some are in the woods, some are by the lake, and some are in the mountains.

What is not known now is how these cabins will be allocated, whether by designation, by drawing lots, or on a first-come, first-served basis.

Everyone made various contingency plans, one of which was which one to grab if they needed to.

While everyone was arguing, Charles said, "Let's go for the one by the lake. First, we need to ensure the water source."

"This wooden house is surrounded by water on three sides, and there is a cliff more than three meters high next to the water. There is only one road, so it is relatively easy to defend."

Neville also said: "I can plant a circle of plants on the edge of the cliff. If someone comes from there, they will definitely be discovered."

In the past two years, he and Professor Sprout have learned a lot of spells using plants to fight, and they are used quite well. In a recent competition, he grabbed a spot on the action team.

When a whopping willow as tall as a person stood there, everyone recognized that he had such strength.

There should be some medicinal herbs in the arena that can be used in combat. We can bring some back to strengthen the base's defense.

Percy looked at the map and said, "This cabin is close to the center of the stadium, so it's convenient for movement. The other three schools will also be thinking of it. We need to find a way to get there first."

Charles thought for a moment and said, "I think we can use Apparition there."

Percy and Joyce passed the Apparition test. If it can be used, it should not be a problem to take a few people to grab a place first. Even if they make a few more trips, they can bring everyone there in a few minutes.

It would be easy if this kind of space magic could be used, and Charles would have more options when guarding the house.

Everyone started discussing and put forward a variety of ideas.

Finally, Charles said, "I'm worried that someone might use disguise magic to pretend to be one of us, so I will ask the returning members of the task force some questions about Hogwarts. If they can't answer, they will be treated as spies."

(End of this chapter)