Chapter 472: Chapter 472: This Opportunity Is Quite Rare (Edited)
"Look, there's a light over there!" After dealing with the Red Caps, Hermione and Padma turned around several times until they finally spotted a flash of light.
After making sure it wasn't a Hinkypunk trap, they quickened their pace and rushed toward the light. The light grew larger and larger until they finally identified a cave large enough for a person to enter.
Hermione and Padma walked faster and faster, sometimes stumbling into a swamp, but that didn't stop them from moving forward until...
"Ah!" Padma screamed and collapsed, holding her ankle.
Hermione immediately stopped and cast a Protego Charm around herself before approaching to check Padma's condition.
By then, Padma had already removed something that looked like a piece of wood from her ankle, and a large amount of blood was quickly pouring out, soaking her long stockings.
Both recognized the culprit: the dugbog. It's a creature that lives in the swamps of Europe and America. When motionless, it looks like a piece of wood, but upon close inspection, one can see thin legs, allowing it to slide through the swamps. Its sharp teeth can catch small mammals and cause serious damage to people's feet and ankles.
This magical creature is not difficult to handle, but somehow, it was classified by the Ministry of Magic as a Level XXX magical creature.
The magical world's classification of creatures can be quite rigid. XXXX-level creatures are dangerous and can only be dealt with by expert wizards with specific knowledge, while XXX-level creatures can be handled by competent wizards. Judging the level of danger solely by the value of X is a mistake. In the field, encountering a Swooping Evil is much more dangerous than encountering a phoenix.
Although the injuries caused by the dugbog are not severe, if not properly handled, they can lead to infections, especially in a swampy environment like this.
Of course, all of this posed no problem for wizards.
"Episkey!" Hermione pointed her wand at Padma's ankle, and the wound quickly closed.
"Let's be careful; I think we're getting close to the final test," Hermione said after calculating the time.
Both gathered their spirits and headed toward the entrance of the cave. Fortunately, Professor Lupin left a small kindness and didn't place any more traps along the way.
Hermione cast a Protego Charm on herself before exiting the cave. Padma tried to imitate her, but she didn't know the spell, so she hid behind Hermione.
It turned out her caution was unnecessary, as in the new room, Tom had no intention of attacking them. He was simply standing in the center of the room, waiting for the next challengers. On one of the room's side walls, several wands were hung, and behind Tom was something that looked like a chest.
"Hermione... and Padma, good morning!" He greeted them very cordially while deflecting Hermione's spell with a Protego Charm.
"That's too much, Hermione! I wasn't even planning to attack you!" Tom made a hurt expression. According to his plan, he had intended to fill the room with dense fog so that no one could see, block the entrance, and stun them one by one.
But obviously, this evaluation method was not accepted by Professor Lupin. So Tom had to stay here openly and fairly, fighting against the young wizards who arrived on time.
His final score was related to the success rate of these young wizards. So, to get an "Outstanding" grade, Tom worked hard to knock out all the young wizards who arrived here and also confiscated their wands.
The wands hanging on the wall were his "spoils of war."
"After passing my test, you'll be able to open this chest," Tom said as he pointed to the chest behind him, while turning an hourglass in his hand.
"This is a rather rare opportunity, so enjoy it..." Tom rolled up his sleeve, revealing his wand. "Let's duel, Granger, Patil!"
"Expelliarmus!"
"Protego!"
Before Padma could react, Tom and Hermione had already engaged in a duel. Their movements were fluid, as if they had dueled often.
In fact, Padma was not mistaken; Tom and Hermione had indeed been dueling frequently. During this semester, Professor Lupin had given them many practice opportunities, and Tom and Hermione actively participated in Professor Lupin's teaching. Every class culminated in a duel between the two of them. So, they could say they were very familiar with dueling.
"It's time to get serious!"
Tom brought his wand to his lips and blew forcefully, conjuring a fire dragon that coiled and formed a wall of fire between Tom and Hermione.
After this semester of training, Tom had deepened his understanding of the Protego Diabolica spell, and his mental image of fire had become richer.
With the help of this wall of fire, Tom and Hermione exchanged attacks back and forth.
"Wait a moment!" Hermione stepped aside and planted her wand in the ground; this classroom had no tables or chairs, which was a disadvantage for Hermione. She used to transform the tables and chairs to bother Tom and ultimately break his wall of fire.
Fortunately, today there were no tables or chairs, but there was a teammate. Hermione decided to sacrifice Padma and sent her to face Tom's attacks directly to gain some time.
"Finite Incantatem!"
In every duel, Tom's Protego Diabolica always put Hermione at a disadvantage. The fire he conjured was a variant of the Fiendfyre Curse that could consume everything flammable within its range. This type of fire could not be extinguished with common water. Learning from her mistakes, Hermione sought out Professor Lupin and learned this spell that countered deadly fire.
Grindelwald's Protego Diabolica would have required a dozen wizards to extinguish it, but Tom's would have required less effort, and Hermione could handle it on her own.
A red glow rose and enveloped Tom's flames, and then the blue fire and the red light dissipated together.
At that moment, Padma was also thrown out by Tom, unconscious and lying on one side.
"It's over." Hermione said, panting. In front of her lay Tom, securely bound with ropes. After Padma was knocked out, she and Tom had one final showdown, and in the end, with a decisive move, she tied him up.
Chapter 473: Chapter 473: The Second Stage of the Anticlimax (Edited)
Hermione thought she had already passed this level, but it turned out Tom didn't think the same.
"There's still a long way to go!" Tom's body began to swell, and black hair quickly grew on his body, with two bulges on both sides of his neck.
"Now that the nuisance is unconscious, I can give it my all..." In the next second, all the ropes holding Tom broke, and a huge three-headed dog appeared in front of Hermione. Its shoulders almost touched the ceiling, and with a slight pat, it left a deep crater in the ground.
The previous duel between Tom and Hermione could only be considered a prelude. After all, he was someone with a "second phase." The wizard form was only his first phase. Once the wizard was defeated, he could still transform into a magical creature to fight again.
Among the different forms of magical creatures, Tom preferred the three-headed dog form. He liked its brute power and strong defense and endurance; he only needed to deliver one blow, and if it wasn't resolved, he would deliver another.
The other forms were more for support and control; only the three-headed dog was a true combination of attack and defense. The dementor form was more for torturing the weak. For Hermione, who mastered the Patronus Charm, the dementor form was like an easy target...
But it had been a long time since he transformed into a three-headed dog to fight. Today was a coincidence. This room was isolated from the outside, Padma, the third person, was also knocked out by him. There was still time before Professor Lupin entered, so he could fight to his heart's content.
Hermione prepared herself as if facing a formidable enemy. She had a hunch that in front of this form of Tom, if she made a single mistake, she would end up in the infirmary. But that didn't matter; Hermione wanted to know how big the gap between her and Tom was. Even if there was a risk of serious injury, Hermione wouldn't back down; she was prepared for it.
She raised her wand-
Drip, drip, drip.
"Wait... a... moment!" Although the black dog's paw had already been lifted, it suddenly made a stopping gesture. Tom's other paw searched through the black fur for a moment and pulled out a small hourglass held by the paw. The top half of the hourglass had already run out of sand.
"It's over..." Tom transformed directly back into his human form.
Hermione: ?!!
"I was ready, and you stop!"
"Turn back into a three-headed dog!" Hermione exclaimed in frustration, "Turn back into a three-headed dog and fight!"
"I want to do that too," Tom said helplessly, "But time is up, Professor Lupin is about to enter..."
Hermione: ...
She also understood that Tom didn't want to reveal his secret to other people, so she had to swallow her frustration.
Outside the exam, Professor Lupin had already entered the test site. At this moment, he was standing outside the swampy cave of the second level, staring at the bell in his hand. One of the bells was emitting a faint sound, while the other lay silently in his hand. Both bells were illuminated with three stars, which meant that both had reached the third room, and Padma was already unconscious.
Meanwhile, in the waiting area outside the exam, the young wizards were discussing animatedly.
"How much time has passed? It seems that Granger's group has lasted longer than the other groups."
"I just timed it. It's been seven minutes; they're really the group that has lasted the longest. Moreover, I noticed that only one of the bells in Professor Lupin's hand is ringing, which means..."
"One of the two has been knocked out."
Seeing how long Hermione had endured, the young wizards showed expressions of admiration. This was a high-level challenge, and lasting for seven minutes was truly impressive.
"Get out of the way!" Hermione pushed Tom aside with a grimace and headed for the treasure chest.
"I want to see what Professor Lupin put in the chest—" as she spoke, she opened the chest in front of her.
Two seconds later, a scream echoed throughout the place. Professor Lupin intercepted Hermione, who was terrified, between the second and third room.
"Hermione, what's wrong? What did Tom do to you?" Professor Lupin was very surprised; he didn't expect Hermione to get frightened like that.
"I, I, I..." Hermione took a while to calm down. "I saw Professor Flitwick coming out of the box and telling me I had failed all the subjects I had taken before!"
It turned out that Professor Lupin had placed a Boggart in the chest, and Hermione got trapped as soon as she opened it.
Lupin: ...
Don't laugh, contain it!
Tom: ...
Why did you change your mind?
It wasn't Hermione who changed her mind, but rather she suddenly realized that Tom's phoenix form seemed to be able to infinitely resurrect, meaning he wouldn't die. Furthermore, with the pressure of recent exams, what she feared most had also changed.
Professor Lupin pulled out Hermione and the unconscious Padma and called the next group.
When Harry and Ron arrived in the third room, panting after crossing the cave's swamp, they were stunned to see the uneven floor.
The ground here seemed to have been bombarded, and there was a large burned area.
Seeing the damage marks on the ground, it wasn't hard to imagine the intensity of the battle that had taken place here.
Harry and Ron swallowed hard and felt that their exam had probably come to an end.
How long could they last under Tom? Harry had no confidence at all. After all, he had witnessed the duel between Tom and Hermione.
But Tom, sitting in the center of the field, only weakly waved his hand, indicating that they could pass.
"Let me rest for a while... you two go out and don't say nonsense..." The confrontation between Tom and Hermione had consumed too much magical energy, and he needed some time to recover.
So Harry and Ron benefited.
He watched as Ron returned the spider he had taken from the box, and he also saw Harry successfully use the Patronus Charm to make the Boggart transformed into a Dementor flee in fear.
After Hermione passed the challenge, the difficulty level of the level decreased significantly. At the end of the exam, three or four groups of young wizards encountered the Boggart in the treasure chest.
The afternoon exams were Muggle Studies and Divination. Tom and Hermione used the Time-Turner and first went to the Muggle Studies exam, where they wrote a short essay on the process of the Muggle First Industrial Revolution, and then headed to the West Tower, where the Divination classroom was located.
At this time, many young wizards were already lining up outside the tower. The vast majority were trying to cram at the last minute, holding the book "Clearing the Mist to See the Future."
"I won't be taking this class next semester," Hermione said with determination.
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