The champions had become the moving focal point of all Hogwarts—at least for this year.
They enjoyed special exemptions from many school rules and were even permitted to enter the Restricted Section of the library to study magic that ordinary students were not allowed to learn.
The Daily Prophet certainly wouldn't miss such big news. Rita Skeeter had come to Hogwarts once again and interviewed the champions, and as a thoroughbred old British witch, her reporting naturally focused on Hogwarts' own champions.
The Ministry of Magic had specially invited Ollivander to inspect the wands of the eighteen champions, ensuring they were in the healthiest possible condition.
The old man was still as eccentric as ever, clearly remembering the core and wood of every wand he'd ever sold, coming across as highly professional. His words were laced with disapproval for the other wandmaker, Gregorovitch.
"As Hogwarts headmaster, in theory, I shouldn't tell you the tasks for the Triwizard Tournament," Harry said to Hermione as he and his friends walked toward the Great Totem after the wand inspections.
"Then don't," Hermione replied dryly. "That's the right thing to do."
"In theory, yes, but in practice... well, it's sort of a Triwizard tradition," Harry said with a light chuckle. "Professor McGonagall even hinted that I should tell you—she was afraid I'd be too rigid and say nothing at all."
"Tradition?" Ron asked in surprise. "What tradition?"
"Cheating," Harry said succinctly. "Exactly what you're thinking. Every school uses all sorts of ways to let their champions know the tasks in advance and prepare accordingly—it's a required step."
"Huh? That's allowed?" Neville's eyes widened instantly.
"Of course," Harry nodded slightly. "You know, Sirius originally wanted to hold a barbecue party at the Great Totem to celebrate me and Hermione becoming champions, but when he went to invite Hagrid, he found Hagrid inviting Madame Maxime on a date."
"Whoa, that's... fast," Ron couldn't help but sigh. "Is Hagrid's romance going that smoothly?"
"Way too smoothly," Harry said, holding back a laugh. "Do you know where he took Madame Maxime on their first date?"
"The Forbidden Forest," Hermione said without thinking. "It has to be the Forest. I hope Hagrid hasn't shown her the Blast-Ended Skrewts yet—I don't think a French lady would appreciate those."
"Giant lady, you mean?" Ron muttered. "That ought to be interesting... So what did they do in the Forest?"
"Nothing," Harry said, certain Ron wasn't making any innuendo—the kid wasn't at that age yet. "Hagrid just took Madame Maxime to see the first task."
"What is it?"
"Dragons," Harry said briefly, and his friends stopped dead in their tracks.
As people who had once helped raise a dragon, no one understood better than Hermione and the others just how powerful a dragon truly was.
"You mean—Ragehorn?" Ron's voice was already trembling.
"Of course not Ragehorn—Ragehorn isn't something ordinary wizards can defeat," Harry shook his head. "Just regular dragons. And you don't need to worry too much—we're not expecting student champions to take down a full-grown adult dragon. That's what the professor champions are for."
"That sounds like good news," Ron gave a dry laugh. "I don't doubt for a second you could take down a dragon, Harry."
"So what—what do the student champions have to do?" Hermione stammered.
"The student champions have to face a nesting mother dragon. The dragon handlers will place a conspicuous golden egg in her nest alongside her real eggs, and your job is to figure out a way to steal the golden egg right from under the mother's nose."
"What?!" Ron immediately clutched his head. "You have to be careful! Hermione! A mother with eggs! Merlin, Charlie says mothers like that will even attack the males—they're incredibly aggressive and will kill anything that gets near their eggs."
"Hey, Ron, stop it—you're scaring Hermione," Neville quickly grabbed Ron's arm to stop him.
He was right; Hermione's face was already turning pale.
"It's fine," but Hermione's mouth was stubborn. "It's just taking the golden egg—we're not defeating the dragon. That's simple... Let me think. The Disillusionment Charm should work, or maybe I could use the Eye Curse to disrupt the dragon's vision..."
She was done worrying about anything else. At that moment, Hermione's brain was spinning wildly, trying to find a way to complete the task successfully, muttering nonstop under her breath. To the others, who knew her well, this was exactly her sign of nervousness.
"...Of course, there's also your—" Hermione started, then stopped, suddenly turning her gaze to Ha—
"At your service, my lady," Harry chuckled lightly and pulled a cloak from his belt pouch that flowed like liquid mercury.
The Potter family Invisibility Cloak.
"Th-thank you," Hermione's body stiffened for a moment, but she quickly ignored Ron and Neville's stares and took the cloak. "But the Invisibility Cloak... Can I use it? According to Crouch, champions can only rely on their own wands during the tasks, right?"
"So you need a very simple spell to help you," Harry shrugged. "The Summoning Charm. You get it?"
"Of course!" Hermione's eyes lit up. "Accio Invisibility Cloak!"
The cloak in her hand didn't budge.
"Huh?"
"This cloak is special—it resists the Summoning Charm," Harry explained. "You'll need to put it in a small bag beforehand and summon the bag instead. Of course, you don't have to—I'm just giving you an option. You can complete the task any way you can think of and show the audience just how powerful you are."
No doubt about it—Harry was egging her on.
"You could even defeat the dragon outright!" Ron got excited. "I'm betting if you take it down head-on and then grab the egg, you'd get way higher scores! At least way more than sneaking it with the cloak! Everyone loves that kind of thing!"
Ron had a point.
With so many people desperately leaking information, even more than twenty days before the first task began, every champion already knew what it was. Time seemed to speed up in the strangest way.
It was as if someone had kicked it hard from behind—many weren't even ready, but the tournament had arrived.
From a thousand years ago, when Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was formally established, this corner of the Scottish Highlands had never been so lively.
Wizards, wizards, wizards—as far as the eye could see, wizards. Far from the castle, near the mountains, a massive structure now stood, modeled after an ancient Roman colosseum.
Honestly, building something in that style on this island nation was a bit odd, but... no big deal.
The important thing was that it was cool.
This retro colosseum was the venue for the Triwizard Tournament. The building itself was already grand enough, and the wizards had used Undetectable Extension Charms to expand the interior space.
It included not only many public facilities but also numerous rooms for resting and lodging—yet more ticket-buying wizards chose to pitch tents on the open ground outside the colosseum.
Even though they weren't allowed within a step of Hogwarts.
But what was truly memorable was so many Muggles setting foot on Hogwarts grounds... Er, the last time so many Muggles had entered here was probably during the witch hunts, when wizards invented spells like the Muggle-Repelling Charm to hide themselves.
But that was ancient wizard history. For modern wizards, it felt a bit unreal.
The Muggle Prime Ministers of Britain and France would personally attend the first task, accompanied by their entourages and a large number of Muggle government officials, plus television and newspaper media workers from around the world.
The Ministry of Magic had to ensure these Muggles' safety, preventing attacks from wizards who weren't fond of Muggles or injuries from ignorance of magic.
It was a great time for graduates to find jobs—tons of positions were created, and the Ministry needed more hands.
The students were full of curiosity about these early-arriving Muggles, who carried strange camera-like devices on their shoulders as they walked around Hogwarts. According to Muggle-born students, they were called video cameras.
In any case, in front of these cameras, there was always a beautifully dressed woman walking backward while introducing the ancient castle and the wizarding school. A professor would always follow these reporters, answering their questions—though it wasn't clear who they were explaining to.
Harry had used his headmaster authority to temporarily lift the massive Muggle-Repelling Charm and electronic interference spells over the Hogwarts area, allowing these Muggle television stations to do such detailed reporting and commentary on Hogwarts—in the form of a documentary.
Curiosity and pursuit of the supernatural were human instincts; in the past, most people just thought such things didn't exist. But the resurgence of the elements had shattered that notion.
Now, it was simply about letting them know magic existed in the world, and those who wielded new powers weren't alone or unregulated.
Harry knew the Muggles' agents or spies would use all sorts of methods to gather intelligence on Hogwarts, like surveillance cameras or listening devices, but none of that mattered.
Muggles still didn't understand magic well enough. They couldn't imagine that if a wizard wanted to invent a spell and thought, "I want to make Muggle [whatever] stop working," such a spell would appear and function in every conceivable way.
No need to understand—just make it work.
"Welcome, Prime Minister Hack," Harry extended his hand. "Welcome to Hogwarts. I hope you have a pleasant time here and experience the charm of magic."
"Ah, hello, Headmaster Potter," Jim Hack smiled and shook his hand. "Of course—er, I mean, we're certainly looking forward to it, right, Humphrey?"
"Yes, Prime Minister," Humphrey's face immediately broke into a smile. "I hear there are dragons in this tournament? The kind from my memories—mythical story dragons?"
No one could resist the allure of dragons, wizard or Muggle.
It was clear the British Prime Minister and his Cabinet Secretary were very much looking forward to the trip.
"To be precise, dragons will appear in the first task," Scrimgeour said in his rough voice. "As for the next two, please allow us to keep them secret for now."
"Yes, surprises," Hack nodded repeatedly. "I like surprises... This is great."
"I hope the Muggle government is prepared for the public revelation of magic," Scrimgeour continued. "No issues?"
"Of course," Humphrey nodded quickly. "We've prepared thirty-two episodes of television broadcasts to deeply imprint one idea in ordinary people's minds—that wizards are just a type of human who were hidden in the past."
"Magic has always existed—the old witches in fairy tales were hidden in the forests, right?" Hack suddenly laughed. "It's reasonable, fits everyone's imagination—how? Is there a problem?"
He suddenly couldn't keep laughing, because Hack noticed that everyone, including Humphrey, was staring at him in silence.
"No problem," Harry changed the subject. "But real dragons are probably a bit different from what you two imagine. They don't speak human languages, don't breathe world-ending flames, and aren't symbols of Satan—at least wizards haven't found any traces of Satan, hell, or heaven."
"That's a relief," Hack crossed himself. "Ahem, I mean, can we go see the dragons first? Sorry, I'm a bit curious."
"Of course," Bagman, waiting nearby, said immediately. "In fact, the French Prime Minister has already gone ahead."
"What?!" Hack tensed up instantly. "Damn it, we can't fall behind the French—this is Britain!"
"Yes, Prime Minister," Humphrey followed right away.
The Muggle governments were quite cooperative... though accurately, with the Ministry no longer willing to hide, they had no choice but to cooperate.
But for the average Muggle, they were already starting to see experts and professors on television gradually paving the way for magic's exposure.