Hermione's worldview had taken a heavy blow. For the rest of the day, she remained visibly stunned.
Even when they ate together in the mess hall during dinner, she still hadn't fully recovered. Judging by her expression, it would take a while for her to digest all this information.
"Didn't you say you don't go after young girls?"
Scáthach, holding a plate of pastries, leaned close to Ethan with a curious look.
"I don't."
"Hermione looks like she's fallen victim to your wicked ways."
"I just told her about our identities."
Ethan really wanted to snap back, how does she look like it? She clearly doesn't, okay?
"Oh, so that's how it is."
Seeing that things weren't developing in an interesting direction, Scáthach lost interest and retreated with a disappointed look. But before she left, she still added pointedly, "But you really do seem to have more and more young girls around you."
"..."
Turning his head, he saw Illya holding Shiro and looking at him expressionlessly.
Ethan decided to 'pretend he didn't hear anything' and casually wandered off in a random direction, treating it as a post-dinner stroll to aid digestion, even though his current body wouldn't experience indigestion.
Besides revealing his identity to Hermione, the biggest topic of attention at the moment was Hogwarts holding a ball, and as one of the Triwizard Tournament champions, Ethan would be one of the lead dancers.
Snape had even spoken to him specifically about this, telling him to prepare formal attire in advance, and to quickly learn to dance if he didn't already know how.
"Dancing?"
Ethan genuinely didn't know how.
Ever since transmigrating and obtaining the Space-Time Orb, his early years were spent constantly struggling to survive and gain strength.
Even after securing his survival, his pursuit of power never stopped.
He carefully collected and studied all kinds of knowledge, abilities, and tools that could make him stronger, and dancing definitely wasn't one of them.
Given Ethan's current learning ability and physical coordination, he could master simple dance steps after watching them once, so he wasn't too concerned.
Rather than worrying about that, he had to think about whom to choose as a dance partner.
"Why do I feel like I've run into trouble?"
After considering it, Ethan decided to invite Illya.
Not inviting Scáthach wouldn't matter, but if he kept ignoring Illya, she would definitely be upset.
After living in this world for a few years, Illya no longer clung to Ethan as much as she had at the beginning. Sometimes, she would find ways to amuse herself.
However, most of the time, she still stayed close to Ethan, and lately, he felt like he'd been neglecting her.
"So this is compensation?"
Illya looked at Ethan with an expression that seemed to say, 'I've seen through everything,' but still happily accepted the invitation.
This was an invitation from Ethan. Of course Illya wouldn't refuse, especially since she had been quite interested in the ball itself.
After a few years of peaceful school life, she now smiled brightly every day, no longer wearing that constant cold expression. Her occasional smiles now felt warm instead of mocking.
"I need to prepare my dress too."
Since Illya was happy, she took care of all the preparations herself, leaving Ethan with nothing to do but quietly wait for the day of the ball to arrive.
"Have you figured out the secret of the golden egg?"
That day, while Ethan was reading in a quiet corner as usual, Hermione, whom he hadn't seen in a while, suddenly approached.
He had thought she would continue asking about his identity, but to his surprise, she brought up the Triwizard Tournament.
"The golden egg? Oh, that."
The first task had been to retrieve a golden egg guarded by a dragon. The egg contained information about the next task.
This meant that the three champions who successfully obtained the golden egg would gain insight into the second task and have an advantage.
As for Viktor, who had damaged his golden egg, he would have to figure things out on the spot.
Ethan hadn't bothered to unlock the golden egg's mechanism, because he already knew what the second task was.
It involved diving into the Black Lake next to Hogwarts and rescuing someone 'very important' to the champion, who had been captured and imprisoned at the bottom of the lake.
The tricky part was figuring out how to move around underwater for an extended period.
But for Ethan, this posed no problem.
Even before forming his divine body, he could remain underwater for as long as he liked and only leave when he chose to.
As for the merpeople?
They could only rely on their advantage of being in familiar territory to cause a bit of trouble for the champions, but they posed no threat to Ethan.
The only issue was not knowing who would be chosen as his hostage.
In the original storyline, Harry's target was Ron, his best friend. Viktor had to rescue Hermione, with whom he had a budding romantic relationship at the time. Cedric Diggory had to rescue Cho Chang, his girlfriend, and Fleur had to rescue her younger sister.
Now that Ethan had replaced Cedric, Cho Chang wouldn't be taken.
Judging by current relationships, Illya was likely to be chosen instead.
But based on Illya's personality, would she obediently play the hostage?
By the time the task began, Illya might wake up and cause a huge commotion in the Black Lake, potentially even killing all the merpeople in the water.
That would be quite the spectacle.
The merpeople in the Black Lake actually had a good relationship with Hogwarts, which was why they agreed to help with this task.
The talk about kidnapping someone important and putting them in mortal danger was all for show, meant to frighten the participants.
The Ministry of Magic and the Hogwarts professors would ensure the safety of these 'hostages.'
So even if a champion failed, it wasn't as though they would have to watch someone close to them die.
The professors and merpeople were simply putting on a performance.
Given that, Ethan obviously couldn't let Illya lose control and go on a rampage.
So he decided to find time to talk to Dumbledore and the others and ask them not to use Illya or Scáthach as hostages.
Hmm... Leah was also not suitable. Who knew what might happen if she got provoked and awakened some Demon Lord ability?
As for Rin... well, she was definitely qualified to be a hostage.
"What are you thinking about?"
He had been deep in thought and forgotten Hermione was still waiting for an answer beside him.
"You figured out the golden egg's secret long ago, didn't you?"
"Yes."
Ethan glanced at Hermione beside him and suddenly recalled that she was also close to Harry. "Are you asking for Harry's sake?"
"Harry already figured it out."
Hermione looked back at Ethan with a slightly puzzled expression. "I should have known. A riddle like that wouldn't stump you."
So that was it.
Hermione had been worried that he hadn't solved it and came to remind him.
"Thanks."
"You're welcome. I didn't do much anyway."
Hermione stood up, preparing to leave, but Ethan stopped her just as she rose.
"What is it?"
"Here, take this."
With a wave of his hand, a simple-looking necklace appeared in Ethan's hand. It resembled the kind sold by street vendors.
But Hermione wouldn't think it was something so ordinary.
After all, the person in front of her had a rather terrifying identity, and even now, she hadn't completely believed everything he'd said.
"What is this?"
"An amulet. I noticed you're not wearing your Time-Turner anymore."
Hermione touched her neck, a faint blush rising to her cheeks.
"You actually noticed?"
Ethan originally wanted to say, "I'm not blind," but then realized that constantly paying attention to a girl's neck would sound strange.
And explaining it wouldn't help.
Saying his spiritual perception and eyesight were too strong and that no detail could escape him?
That wouldn't make things any better.
In the end, he could only awkwardly remind her, "Remember to wear it. It'll be useful."
Hermione opened her mouth, but in the end said nothing. She took the necklace and quickly walked away.
Actually, the amulet had several enchantments, including consciousness restoration, underwater breathing, and enhanced vision, which would prevent Hermione from suffering too much if she were chosen as a hostage.
Although Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic would ensure the hostages' safety, in the chilly waters of the lake, the physical suffering couldn't be avoided.
The cold, the choking, and the suffocation weren't exactly comfortable.
Although the professors would take certain precautions, after all, a normal person wouldn't survive an hour underwater.
With this amulet, Hermione could wake up earlier and wouldn't have to worry about choking if the spells placed on her were lifted.
She could even use the enhanced vision to watch what was happening at the bottom of the lake.
That was, if she actually wore the amulet.
The next day, Ethan made a point of checking and saw that Hermione was wearing the necklace he gave her.
With Hermione taken care of, Ethan immediately went to find Dumbledore and explained Illya's situation.
"Don't worry, we don't plan to use Illya as a hostage."
As for how Ethan knew the content of the second task?
Dumbledore didn't even bother to ask.
"And Scáthach... well... we don't think it's a good idea to use her either."
They also hadn't considered using anyone else close to Ethan, such as Leah or Tohsaka Rin, which made him curious.
"Then who do you plan for me to rescue?"
"We're still trying to figure that out."
Dumbledore had been thinking about it for a while.
If possible, it would be best not to involve anyone too close to Ethan. But besides them, there weren't many people who had a close relationship with him.
"Perhaps you could suggest someone?"
Ethan rubbed his chin.
Now that Dumbledore had tossed the question back to him, he realized it wasn't easy to decide.
"How about... Draco Malfoy?"
Upon further thought, that young master had been behaving himself and hadn't caused trouble, so there was no need to mess with him.
"You can arrange it however you want. I'll keep a lower profile this time and stay underwater for a while."
The implied meaning was: The hostage is going to suffer, so it's your choice who it is.
(To be continued.)
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