Hogwarts: This professor is too Muggle.

Chapter 401 Schemes
"The purple dragon egg with the highest score!"

Piccoli silently approached the dragon's lair deep within the dimly lit cave.

Not far in front of him, a longhorned dragon with sharp horns lay prone on the ground, its two orange-yellow eyes fixed on the cave entrance, wary of enemies intruding into the nest, but completely ignoring the five warriors approaching in front of him.

Even if it sniffs and presses its ears close to the rock wall, it can only smell a faint, unfamiliar scent and a rustling sound like a groundhog digging a hole, as if it were an invisible beast.

The four men followed closely behind Piccoli, moving quietly with small, careful steps, always avoiding the dry branches under their feet and being careful not to pick up any small stones.

The pace of exploration was very slow; it took a full five minutes to cover a distance of twenty feet, but this was the result of hundreds of repetitions.

The three students used [Illusory Body Appearance], [Whisper], and [Block Hearing] respectively to control their figures, heartbeats, and footsteps to a level that would not be detected by the fire dragon.

Then Nancy used the Bubble Head Charm to cover her entire body to conceal the scent. It is said that this modified charm was Professor Levent's exclusive version, and Principal Fontana specially asked the professor to teach it to him.

The group of five looked at the six dragon eggs under the longhorn dragon's body.

"One purple dragon egg, one blue dragon egg, two green dragon eggs, and two yellow dragon eggs..." Nancy frowned slightly. "No golden eggs?"

I felt a mix of disappointment and relief.

Without golden eggs, these colorful dragon eggs are just ordinary toys. Even if you take them away in front of the horned dragon, it won't anger the fire dragon and there's not much danger.

“Pickley, you take the purple dragon egg to compete for the championship. The rest of us just need to finish the competition,” Dawn Rodriguez of Pukchi Academy suggested in a low voice.

The warriors present were all outstanding students about to graduate, prefects of various colleges at Ifamoni School, and Pickley and Nancy, as the male and female presidents of the student council, often interacted with them through student work and were very familiar with each other.

They knew very well that only Pickley and Nancy were qualified to compete for the Cup of Fire, and rather than dragging their team here, they might as well do Pickley a favor.

Pickley frowned: "Let's talk outside."

The other four didn't understand why Pickley disagreed with the lift plan, but they didn't ask further, as the Dragon's Nest was indeed not the place to distribute prizes at this moment.

Pickley remained silent, and with the support of his teammates, he approached the dragon egg without leaving a trace.

All eyes were on the longhorn, its dark green scales gleaming with a metallic sheen, its open mouth spewing foul-smelling breaths, warm air flowing through the cave with each breath, its head slightly lowered, its eyes fixed on Pikely who was reaching for the egg.

The pressure from those eyes was so intense, like an invisible hand gripping your heart, making it hard to breathe.

Pickley tried to convince himself that the horned dragons couldn't see them and could easily take the dragon eggs, but he couldn't bring himself to do it; a faint sense of danger was warning him.

The longhorned dragon looked away, opened its mouth and yawned, as if it hadn't noticed anything, or as if it was full and didn't want to pay attention to them.

Pickley reached out his hand, not to take the dragon egg, but to grasp the bone spurs between the dragon's teeth.

Although it's called a bone spur, to the wizard it's almost the same length as a femur, with one side of the spherical protrusion chewed up, the sharp fragments stuck in the gums, making it look like a bone spur indeed.

The longhorned dragon's head remained still, but its eyes moved downwards, smiling at the warriors.

This ferocious and terrifying fire dragon had a surprisingly gentle smile. Iphamoni's students' hearts skipped a beat, and their magic to conceal their presence was about to crumble.

The longhorned dragon's mouth was directly facing the group of people, and its dragon fire surged in its throat, serving as a torch for illumination in the dark cave. With just a slight breath, it could roast the group of people into charcoal.

“I’ll help you pull out the bone spur, and you give us those Easter eggs, how about it?” Pickley proposed the deal, his voice trembling.

The warriors didn't know if the longhorn dragon could understand human speech, but it did keep its mouth open and didn't turn them into a complimentary dessert.

Pulling out bone fragments, cleaning meat scraps from between teeth...

【Clear Water Like Spring】Paired with 【Whirlwind Cleaning】, a teeth cleaning service is both thorough and comfortable.

The longhorned dragon licked its cleaned teeth with its tongue, letting out a joyful and cheerful growl, letting these people take away the colored eggs beneath it. Even as they turned to leave, it was still smugly showing off its gleaming teeth.

"These fire dragons seem to have been specially trained; they can communicate in a simple way." On the way back, Dawn was still somewhat incredulous.

“There are no truly wild creatures among the magical beasts; they can communicate with each other to some extent. It’s just that the dragons are too proud, and there has never been a record of them being tamed before,” Nancy explained with a smile.

"Lady Luck is on our side."

The team members chatted and laughed, and Pickley's expression relaxed a bit. They completed the game with ease, and no one on the team was injured, which was indeed something to celebrate.

The light of the cave entrance had appeared ahead, and when they were less than thirty feet from the exit, Piccolo suddenly stopped, gripping his wand in one hand and raising the other to warn others.

The team members were completely baffled, but they still stopped.

Has the fire dragon changed its mind?

Even if the horned dragon catches up, they should hurry up and leave. Why stop at the cave entrance? The team members even hesitated, wondering whether the wand should be pointed outwards or inwards.
Footsteps suddenly broke the silence inside the cave.

A gloomy figure entered the cave. He was tall and thin, with dark hair and thick eyebrows, a distinctive hooked nose, and a somewhat clumsy gait with his toes pointing outwards.

Everyone in Ilfamoni stared at the figure in astonishment, immediately recognizing it as Krum of Durmstrang, whose indifferent expression was exactly the same as that on the Quidditch poster.

If they encountered a strange wizard in a dangerous environment in the wild, they should immediately cast a spell to subdue him. However, at this moment, they hesitated, unsure whether to take action, especially since the person had no teammates with him.

“Mr. Krum, you must have come to the wrong cave. This is the cave we chose,” Pickley said calmly.

The figure at the cave entrance stopped at a safe distance, saw the dragon eggs in their hands, shook his head, and turned to leave: "The purple dragon eggs are precious, but they are not the golden or black-and-white dragon eggs I want."

Pickley and Nancy hesitated for a moment, but quickly understood his plan.

If it were a golden egg or a black and white dragon egg, they would definitely be busy fighting the fire dragon and unable to spare any attention. This would be the best time to snatch the dragon egg. He would rush into the cave alone, take advantage of their confrontation with the fire dragon, grab it, and leave. The others would have to help him hold off the fire dragon.

Unbeknownst to them, Krum knew about the ordeal of the entire Beauxbatons team and the effects of the glass ball. His plan was to steal the dragon egg, launch an attack to enrage the fire dragon, and use the dragon's flames to trigger the glass ball, causing the people in the cave to immediately end the match and settle the score.

"You! Bulgarian star player, how could you be so despicable!" Nancy couldn't help but curse, and immediately pointed her wand at him in anger.

Without looking back, Krum strode away from the cave.

Leaving the cave, they saw some people clapping and others booing in the stands. Several keepers were moving the Beauxbatons warriors, who were sealed in transparent bubbles, out of the cave. Only then did the people of Ifamoni understand the effect of the glass ball and Krum's plan.

Nancy gritted her teeth and said indignantly, "I hate guys like this the most! They don't have the guts to explore the cave themselves, yet they try to scheme against others!"

Pickley patted her on the shoulder: "At least he didn't succeed, and we made it out of the cave safely." They brought out six dragon eggs intact, one for each person and one extra. The eggs were at least yellow, so their adventure could be described as a fruitful one.

Next came the division of spoils. There was no polite back-and-forth. Pickley picked up the purple dragon egg and said, "You guys stay outside and guard the egg. I need to go warn Harry and the others to watch out for that guy."

The warriors who picked up the other dragon eggs exchanged glances. At this moment, Krum had already walked towards another cave, which should be the dragon's nest that Harry and the others had chosen.

Ilfamoni has been dining at the Gryffindor long table these days. They are friends with the Gryffindor students, so they should indeed help out.

……

The first three teams set off first and selected three caves, leaving nine caves remaining.

Harry planned to randomly select one of the generals, and Cedric did not object.

"Just pick one! Are you guys crazy?"

The little witch's incredulous voice came from behind: "If they encounter the black and white dragon eggs, we only have one chance. You're just going to leave such a precious opportunity to luck?"

Harry and Cedric turned around, and Hermione was standing behind them, staring at them incredulously, just like Professor McGonagall scolding them in class.

"There's no better way for the time being, is there? The nine caves look almost identical from the outside, so how can we choose?"

Harry blinked, thinking that Professor Granger had misunderstood him: "The first three teams were just randomly chosen from the closest ones."

"Use your brains and think about this carefully. This is the Goblet of Fire. Professor Levent and his team spent months designing and perfecting it. How could it just be a matter of luck!" Hermione said with a look of exasperation.

"But you have to go inside to be tested on your strength, right?"

"Identifying the lair based on clues at the cave entrance and deducing the type of dragon is also part of the competition." Hermione was too lazy to explain to this reckless guy; Gryffindor's reputation was ruined by them.

Hermione walked to the nearest cave entrance on her own, looking around. A slightly fishy smell wafted towards her.

Because Durmstrangers had just gone in not long ago, the others hadn't really looked at the entrance when they passed by. Harry only noticed some inconspicuous marks when he got closer; there were streamlined marks imprinted on the rocks.

It was clearly caused by a fire dragon; at first glance, it looks like strands of willow branches.

“These are the marks left from the lion-like nose and tassel-like spikes on the face of the fire dragon, a feature only found on the Chinese fire dragon,” Hermione said. “A very docile dragon.”

"They're lucky."

“That’s not necessarily true.” Hermione glanced at him and moved on to the next cave entrance.

The cave that the Beauxbatons entered had no obvious marks at the entrance, but based on the small size and high location of the entrance, Hermione confirmed that it was carved according to the size and habits of the Welsh green dragon.

The guardian of Gringotts underground vault is the Welsh Green Dragon, with spikes on its body, four legs, agile movements, and intense flames; it is moderately dangerous.

“But green dragons don’t like to cause trouble. As long as you don’t provoke them, there shouldn’t be any problems.” Hermione seemed to be an encyclopedia of dragons.

"The cave chosen by the Iphamoni Warriors has a hole in the top made by a sharp horn, indicating that it is a longhorned dragon, the most intelligent and human-friendly dragon, which has been hunted extensively in recent years and its numbers have decreased sharply."

"Look at this cave, the largest of the twelve, which means it contains the largest fire dragon, the Hehidari Black Dragon, which is more aggressive than the Green Dragon, but its flames are not as deadly."

They were the last group to set off, and only the three of them remained outside the low hill. Hermione walked along the cave entrance one by one, analyzing the characteristics of the cave entrances to determine the types of fire dragons and providing detailed and specific analyses.

Cedric and Harry followed behind Hermione, the little witch's eyes wide, her head tilting as she searched for clues, her face full of seriousness. The teachers and students in the audience remained quiet, and Bagman's commentary also lowered in tone.

"Australian protein eye, extremely dangerous."

"Swiss Short-nosed Dragon, extremely dangerous."

"..."

After spending more than ten minutes walking around, Hermione finally stopped. Meeting the two people's amazed gazes, she slightly raised her chin, feeling smug but not showing it.

"You've memorized all twelve characteristics of the fire dragons."

Harry stared blankly, paying homage to the academic genius.

"Charlie's notes are very useful; you should take a look."

"It's enough that you're watching."

Harry snapped out of his daze and quickly dropped his slacker act: "So, should we choose the gentlest and safest dragon?"

"This requires considering the type of dragon eggs inside."

Cedric then stepped forward: "Just as Hermione just said, the Goblet of Fire competition is carefully designed by the organizing committee, and the placement of the prizes is also designed. Different colored dragon eggs are placed in the dragons of different levels of danger. The more dangerous the cave, the more likely it is to find golden eggs and black and white dragon eggs."

“The Peruvian Vipertooth, Swedish Short-snout Dragon, Norwegian Spinosaurus, and Hungarian Tree Peak are the most dangerous, and they are very likely to have golden or black-and-white dragon eggs.” Hermione paused briefly, “but there are only three of us.”

"..."

Harry frowned slightly, feeling something was off.

These two people were so fluent in their responses that it seemed like he was the only idiot.

Harry quickly shook his head: "Then what do we choose?"

Cedric considered for a moment: "I prefer the second tier: the Hehidari Black Dragon, the Ukrainian Iron Belly, or the Portuguese Longsnout Dragon. The returns and risks are more balanced, after all, there are only three of us."

Hermione nodded: "The other three teams didn't get the most dangerous dragon either. Their prizes will probably be colored dragon eggs, or at most golden eggs. We'll choose the second-tier dragon, which should be enough to get a good ranking."

“Not bad ranking…” Harry hesitated.

He knew that Hermione and Cedric were both excellent students in arithmetic divination, capable of solving complex problems like Professor Victor's, and that their calculations were the most accurate. But he didn't want just a decent ranking.

He wants to win the championship.

(End of this chapter)