Old Blood at Hogwarts

On Sunday morning, Aaron woke up, got dressed, and walked down the spiral staircase to the common room below.As soon as he appeared, the classmates who had already had breakfast cheered enthusiastically again.

Although Aaron appreciates everyone's support, they are just too enthusiastic.Thinking of entering the auditorium and facing other Gryffindor classmates, Aaron didn't want to go to breakfast.But staying in the common room, Aaron also had to face the entanglement of his classmates.So, he decisively walked to the hole behind the portrait, pushed it open, and climbed out.

After leaving the common room, Aaron did not go to the Great Hall for breakfast. Instead, he came to the kitchen and asked the elves for some food.Afterwards, he came to the Room of Requirement and began to read books and practice magic.

All day today, Aaron was not prepared to appear in front of others.He knew that he must be the focus of the whole school now, and once he appeared in front of others, everyone would pester him with questions.He had already experienced this once last night and didn't want to experience it again.

But when class resumed on Monday, he could no longer hide.

During the Care of Magical Creatures class in the afternoon, Hagrid came to class with a large stack of rickety boxes in his arms, each containing a huge Explosive-Ended Skrewt.

Hagrid began to explain that the skrewts had to be separated because they were starting to kill each other.And he believes that the reason why snails kill each other is because they have extra energy and nowhere to release it.To solve this problem, he asked each student to tie a snail with a rope and take it for a walk.

The students were very scared after hearing this.A Slytherin student stared at a box and asked disgustedly: "Take this thing for a walk? Where should we tie the rope? To its spines, to its explosive tail, or to its suction cups?"

"Tie in the middle." Hagrid said and showed everyone, "Well... I'm afraid you need to put on your dragon skin gloves for protection."

Following Hagrid's instructions, the students tied ropes to the squids and began taking them for a difficult walk.

The Blast-Ended Skrewt is now over three feet long.They are no longer fleshy, but have grown a thick, shiny, gray-white armor-like thing.They look somewhere between a giant scorpion and an elongated crab, but still can't tell where the head and eyes are.They are now extremely powerful and difficult to control.Every now and then, with a frightening crackle, the tail of a snail would explode, propelling it forward several meters.More than one classmate was dragged to the ground by them, struggling desperately to stand up.

Aaron, like other students, took a snail for a walk on the lawn.Beside him, Colin walked with him.

"It's amazing, isn't it?" Colin said excitedly, "You and Harry became warriors together!"

"This is indeed very unusual." Aaron said calmly, "I didn't expect that I would become warriors with Harry."

"You said that you used the confusion spell to pass the age limit and threw your name into the Goblet of Fire, right?" Colin asked.

"Yes." Aaron has told many people about this, and naturally he will not deny it now.

"Then do you know how Harry put his name into the Goblet of Fire?" Colin continued to ask, "Did you help him put it in?"

Because Harry firmly denied that he threw his name into the Goblet of Fire, since yesterday, some people thought that Aaron helped Harry throw his name into the Goblet of Fire.

"What? No." Aaron immediately denied, "I didn't vote for him, I only voted for my own name."

"Then how did Harry put his name into the Goblet of Fire?"

"I don't know." Aaron shook his head and said, "But Harry said he didn't put his name into the Goblet of Fire. I think he was telling the truth."

"Why do you think that?" Colin asked.

"Because I can't think of a reason for Harry to lie." Aaron explained, "Now the whole school knows that Harry's name was thrown into the Goblet of Fire, and because of the magical contract, Harry's identity as a warrior is unknown in any case. will be deprived of it. So if it was really his name that he put into the Goblet of Fire, he can now tell everyone the method he used. But until now, he still insists that he did not put his name into the Goblet of Fire, nor did he ask anyone else Did that. So I think he was telling the truth."

"Then who threw his name into the Goblet of Fire?" Colin asked doubtfully.

"I don't know." Aaron shook his head again. "I don't think anyone knows who did it except the person involved."

"Whoever that person is, I guess he must admire Harry." Colin said, "He must really want Harry to become a warrior."

"Oh, do you think so?" Aaron said with a smile, "This is indeed possible. But there is another view. That person deliberately made Harry a warrior, hoping that Harry would die in the tournament. After all, Challenges in the competition are dangerous, and many warriors have lost their lives in challenges in the past."

"How could this happen?" Colin was a little surprised at first, but then he said confidently, "However, I don't think we need to worry about Harry. I believe he will be able to pass all challenges and win the championship."

Aaron looked at the confident Colin and said helplessly: "I don't think Harry himself is as optimistic as you."

The next few days were the most difficult days for Aaron since arriving at Hogwarts.Wherever he went, people were criticizing him, and not all of them were kind.Gryffindor students all expressed support for him, but students from other houses may not.

Slytherin and Gryffindor have always been opposed to each other, so naturally they will not encourage Aaron.The senior students of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw thought that Aaron had used a trick to trick the Goblet of Fire into accepting his name, and they were eager to earn more fame for themselves, so they were also very cold towards him. .But among the younger students in Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, Aaron was very popular.Once in the corridor, he met several second-year Ravenclaw girls who begged him to sign their schoolbags.

On Friday afternoon, Aaron had just finished his Ancient Runes class when he ran into Colin in the hallway.

"Oh, you're here," Colin said. "Mr. Bagman is looking for you."

"Mr. Bagman is looking for me?" Aaron said while motioning to Colin to lead the way, "Do you know what happened to him?"

"I don't know," Colin said, "but it looks like he wants to take pictures of the warriors."

"Photograph?"

"Yeah, probably going to be published in the Daily Prophet."

Soon, they arrived outside the room where the warriors were summoned.

"Good luck to you!" Colin said, "I have to go find Harry." After that, he left.

Aaron knocked on the door and walked in.

This is a smaller classroom, and most of the desks have been pushed to the back of the room, leaving a large open space in the middle.But there were three desks facing each other, placed in front of the blackboard, covered with a long piece of velvet.Behind the velvet-covered desk, there were five chairs. On one of them sat Ludo Bagman, who was talking to a witch Aaron had never seen before. The witch was wearing a magenta dress. robe.

Viktor Krum stood in a corner with a sullen face as usual.Fleur Delacour kept shaking her head, making her long silver hair shine with a dazzling luster.A potbellied man held a large, slightly smoking black camera in his hand and was watching Fleur from the corner of his eye.

Bagman suddenly saw Aaron, stood up quickly, and jumped forward: "Ah, he is here! The third warrior! Come in, Aaron, come in. There is nothing to worry about, it is just a ritual to detect the wand. , the other referees will be arriving soon."

"Detection wand?" Aaron asked.

"We must check whether your wands are fully functional and in good condition. Because in future competitions, wands will be your most important equipment." Bagman explained, "The experts are upstairs, with Dumbledore . Then take some photos. This is Rita Skeeter," Bagman pointed at the witch in a magenta robe. "She is writing an article about the Contest for the Daily Prophet. Small article..."

"Maybe it's not a joke, Ludo," Rita Skeeter said, looking at Aaron.

Her hair was styled into delicate, stiff, weird curls, which looked particularly awkward when paired with her big-chin face.She wore a pair of jeweled glasses.His fat fingers grasped the crocodile leather handbag, and his nails were two inches long and painted bright red.

"Before we start, can I have a few words with Aaron?" Although Rita was asking Bagman, her eyes were still fixed on Aaron, "As the youngest warrior. You know... To add some color to the article.”

"No problem!" Bagman said loudly, "I just don't know if Aaron objects?"

"I'm free." Aaron said with a noncommittal attitude.

"That's great," Rita Skeeter said.In the blink of an eye, her bright red claw-like fingers grabbed Aaron's arm with surprising strength.

"We can't stay there, it's too noisy." She dragged him out of the room and opened a door next to it, "Let me see...ah, okay, it's quite quiet and comfortable here."

Aaron stared at her in confusion.This is a small cubicle where brooms are kept. It's quiet, but the environment inside is far from comfortable.

"Come on, honey." Rita Skeet pulled Aaron into the cubicle and sat down on an upside-down bucket.Then she pressed Aaron against a cardboard box and raised her hand to close the door, plunging the two into darkness.