Among all magical creatures, dragons are quite possibly the most famous and also the most difficult to hide.
The reason is obvious: their size is simply too enormous.
Female dragons are larger than typical male dragons, and they are also more aggressive than males.
But regardless of gender, no one should attempt to approach them except for well-trained, highly skilled wizards, lest they endanger their own lives.
The British Ministry of Magic has, unsurprisingly, given this creature a classification of five X's.
Sherlock finished reading this passage and said to Hermione with a smile, "Someone with a loud voice should really read this out to the organizers."
Hermione nodded. She now understood why the Triwizard Tournament had caused so many deaths in the past.
Making a group of students still in school face dragons directly?
And this was after they changed the format this year to three participants. If it had been just one person...
Hermione didn't even dare to imagine that scene.
Sherlock had just told Harry that Ravenclaw had many people who were like knowledge databases.
He had first learned this from the Sorting Hat during the Sorting Ceremony.
It was precisely this point that made him give up on Ravenclaw and choose Gryffindor instead.
Since Ravenclaw had so many of these types of people, he himself didn't need to enter that house to acquire knowledge.
If necessary, he could just obtain it directly from them.
Never did he expect that after entering the school, he would be delighted to discover that Gryffindor actually had a large-scale walking human knowledge database.
Whenever he thought of this, he had to sigh with emotion.
Hermione was really too useful! For instance, right now, she was proving useful again.
Just as Sherlock had said from the beginning, to deal with dragons, you must first understand dragons.
Next, Hermione began to demonstrate her strengths, searching for information about dragons in books like finding a needle in a haystack.
Her specialty was reading.
Dragon hide, blood, heart, liver, and horns all possess very strong magical properties.
Dragon eggs are classified as Class A Non-Tradeable Goods.
In other words, dragons are treasures from head to tail.
There are ten different species of dragons, and it is known that they occasionally cross-breed, producing rare hybrid varieties.
Based on this foundation, Hermione focused on searching for information about the three dragons that had been brought to the Triwizard Tournament.
Swedish Short-Snout
A dragon species native to Sweden.
Its appearance is an attractive silvery-blue color, and from its nostrils it breathes dazzling blue flames that can reduce wood and bone to ashes in an instant.
Compared to most dragons, the Swedish Short-Snout has committed fewer murders, but this does not mean it is gentle and harmless.
This is mainly because this type of dragon lives in remote mountainous wilderness areas where people rarely go. In essence, it is still very dangerous and is ultimately still a five-X magical creature.
Chinese Fireball
Also known as the Liondragon, this is a dragon species native to China.
It gets its name from its ability to shoot mushroom-shaped fireballs from its nostrils when angered.
It typically weighs between two to four tons, with female Fireballs being larger than males.
Its appearance is particularly striking, with smooth scales presenting a scarlet color.
It has a short, upturned snout on its face, surrounded by a fringe of golden spikes, which makes its eyes particularly prominent.
The Chinese Fireball's eggs are a vivid crimson with golden spots, and the shells are highly prized in the Chinese wizarding world with widespread applications.
Special attention should be paid to the fact that the Fireball is a dragon with an aggressive nature.
But compared to most dragons, the Fireball is relatively tolerant of its own kind.
Sometimes, they are even willing to share a territory with one or two other dragons.
This is extremely rare among dragons.
Most mammals are food for the Fireball, but they usually prefer to eat humans.
Hungarian Horntail
Native to Hungary, it is generally considered the most dangerous of all dragon species, and is also one of the dragons with the longest fire-breathing range.
The Hungarian Horntail is massive in size, covered with black scales, and looks very much like a lizard.
It has yellow eyes, bronze horns, and a long tail with protruding bronze-colored spikes.
Its eggs are the same color as concrete and are particularly hard.
Even so, the baby dragons can use their tails to break through the shell and hatch.
This is because the tail tip is already well-developed at birth.
The Hungarian Horntail feeds mainly on sheep and goats, but whenever possible, it also eats humans.
"From this perspective, the three dragons in terms of danger should be Hungarian Horntail > Chinese Fireball > Swedish Short-Snout. However, this book also makes it very clear that this doesn't mean the Swedish Short-Snout is gentle and harmless."
Hermione began her habitual muttering. "'Trimming claws with magic, treatment methods for scale rot?' This is useless, this is for weirdos like Hagrid who want dragons to be strong and healthy."
"'Dragons are extremely difficult to kill because their thick skin is permeated with ancient magic, and only the most powerful spells can penetrate it.' This doesn't mean much to us, because at our current stage we simply cannot master powerful spells."
After finishing the books related to dragons, Hermione began studying spells. "A Switching Spell might be useful, we could switch its fangs into wine gums or something, making it less dangerous. The problem is, just as that book said, not much can penetrate dragon hide, so it's not practical. Or use a Transfiguration spell?
But transfiguring such a massive creature, you would certainly not succeed. I suspect even Professor McGonagall... Unless you cast the spell on yourself to increase your strength... But those aren't simple spells either, oh, Sherlock, I mean we haven't learned them in class yet. I only learned about them when doing practice questions for the O.W.L. exams... Oh no, here he comes again! Why can't he read in his stupid boat?"
Hermione, who had been researching dragons, suddenly became irritable.
This was because Viktor Krum had listlessly walked in.
Like before, he gloomily glanced at Sherlock and Hermione, then sat down in a distant corner with a stack of books.
Sherlock immediately realized something from Hermione's tone.
"He's been coming here often lately?"
"Exactly!" Hermione said through gritted teeth. "Sherlock, why don't we just go back to the common room?"
"Has he been bothering you?"
"Not really," Hermione said quickly, startled.
Krum himself wasn't the problem, but groups of girls often hid behind bookshelves to spy on him, and Hermione felt those voices disturbed her concentration.
"Just watch, his fan club members will be here soon, chattering away annoyingly..."
"He's also here to look up information about dragons."
Sherlock's gaze swept over the stack of books in Krum's hands. "But he's all alone... Professor Karkaroff really shows clear favoritism... Let's go, there's not much point staying here anymore."
He and Hermione had spent almost the entire day in the library. Once the two of them became immersed in the ocean of knowledge, they even forgot to eat lunch.
As they left the library, a group of girls tiptoed past them, one of them wearing a Bulgarian scarf around her waist.
"He's not good-looking at all!"
She glared at Krum's distinct profile and muttered angrily. "They like him only because he's famous! If he hadn't done that sneaky fake thing—"
"It's a feint," Sherlock said with a smile. "Harry actually used it in matches too."
"Uh... well, what I mean is, these girls are really annoying!"
"Liking someone because they're famous is actually quite normal."
"Let's not talk about him anymore, Sherlock. Have you thought of any solution?"
"Yes, I already have a preliminary idea, but it needs further calculation. Hermione, you might have to work hard for the next few days..."
Before Sherlock could finish, Hermione immediately said, "No problem! As long as I can help you, it's worth it no matter how hard it is!"
When Harry returned, they informed him of the day's findings.
The information he obtained was about the same as Sherlock and Hermione's efforts.
In one sentence. dragons cannot be defeated by humans (human power).
Especially since the Hogwarts team included two underage wizards.
According to Harry, Cedric had gray eyes very similar to Sherlock's.
But when Harry told him the first task was dragons, the same fear that Harry had felt when he first saw the dragons last night flashed through Cedric's eyes.
In addition, Cho Chang also expressed concern for Harry.
But she also gave him firm support.
After Ron heard what happened, he also started offering suggestions from the side. "Could we conjure some food to lure the dragon?"
"Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration, Exception Number One. food cannot be conjured from nothing," Hermione said immediately.
"No, no, no," Ron shook his head. "We don't have to conjure human food. For dragons, aren't sheep and goats also food?"
Harry said flatly, "But to dragons, we are also food."
"Uh... I forgot about that."
"..."
Everyone fell into silence for a moment.
"Tomorrow is Monday, Professor Lupin should be back."
Sherlock suddenly said.
"Indeed, enough time has passed since his transformation..." Hermione chimed in. "Do you want Professor Lupin to guide us? But as a professor, he shouldn't be able to help us directly, right?"
"We don't need him to tell us how to get past the dragon, we just need him to verify whether my idea is feasible."
Sherlock then turned to Harry. "Mate, have you forgotten what Sirius said before leaving Hogsmeade?"
Reminded by Sherlock, Harry quickly remembered.
"Ask Remus when you're uncertain about something... In many cases... he's calmer than I am."
Professor Lupin was different from other professors after all.
He was one of his father's best friends.
Even if, bound by his position as a professor, he couldn't give direct help, verifying the feasibility of an idea as Sherlock suggested should be fine.
Moreover...
Harry had a vague feeling that Professor Lupin would hint at something for them.
So, after a brief discussion, this matter was decided.
Monday.
When they were eating breakfast in the Great Hall, they saw Professor Lupin appear at the staff table.
They learned from Fred and George that their first class was Defense Against the Dark Arts.
So, after finishing Herbology class, they immediately rushed from the greenhouse to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.
Their luck was good. The air in the classroom still seemed to retain the tense atmosphere after a wizard duel.
But each of the young wizards was in high spirits.
This term, because Professor Hagrid had chosen Blast-Ended Skrewts as his theme, he could no longer compete with Professor Lupin for the title of most popular teacher.
Add to that the fact that much of his attention was focused on Madame Maxime, and his classes became increasingly boring and exasperating.
In fact, if it weren't for the attractive rewards he could still offer to maintain interest, his classes would have become unpopular.
In contrast, Defense Against the Dark Arts had become everyone's favorite.
Students enthusiastically discussed their performance in class, imagining how they could better showcase themselves and defeat opponents next time, while flowing out of the classroom like a receding tide.
Taking advantage of others not paying attention, they quickly exchanged glances and headed in the opposite direction from everyone else.
Soon, they passed through the corridor and arrived at the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor's office.
Hermione took a deep breath and knocked gently on the wooden door.
"Come in."
A gentle but slightly weary voice came from inside the door.
Lupin was grading classroom assignments.
Seeing that it was the four of them who had come, his face immediately showed understanding and concern.
He put down his quill and rubbed his temples, looking somewhat tired.
Clearly, the effects of the full moon had not completely dissipated.
"Sherlock, Harry, Hermione, Ron? You're coming to see me at this time... Let me think, it's about the first task?"
Professor Lupin's gaze swept over the four of them. Recalling his conversation with Sirius in Hogsmeade yesterday, he immediately understood their purpose. "So... you've already discovered the dragons, is that right?"
The three besides Sherlock all hesitated somewhat.
Especially Harry.
He had been worrying about this all along—Hagrid's violation of the rules.
Following Sherlock's guidance, he hadn't told Cedric, but wasn't sure if he should tell Remus.
Fortunately, Remus didn't dwell too much on this point.
He sighed softly, his eyes full of deep worry and a trace of helplessness. "Harry, I know how difficult your situation is. Frankly, when I learned about the project content, I was shocked. However, as your professor, my position is very delicate. I cannot directly tell you how to get past a dragon."
The air instantly became somewhat frozen.
Ron looked a bit dejected, and Harry's face became even paler.
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