章 586: Chapter 586: Unfortunate Fleur (Edited)
Lee Jordan admitted to feeling bitter when he saw the chest.
Why? Why did champions Cedric and Krum have to fight blood and sweat for resources, while Fleur Delacour opened chests as if she were shopping? Is it because she's lucky?
The Durmstrang commentator also felt bitter.
"Luck is also part of talent~" the little Beauxbatons witch smiled contentedly as she looked for ways to praise Fleur.
"Is the Triwizard Tournament a place to test the champions' luck?"
"It can't be helped..."
Madame Maxime cast an uneasy glance at the two directors beside her and internally rejoiced that the competition wasn't taking place at Beauxbatons; otherwise, she couldn't have escaped blame. But both Dumbledore and Karkaroff showed no intention of blaming her. They were both calm, watching the tournament, and even Dumbledore had a faint smile.
Even the commentator had noticed it, and naturally, Fleur, who was there, had seen the shiny treasure chest: it was there, without any precautions, under a willow near the forest, beckoning to her.
"Wait a moment," Lee Jordan frowned, "Is that tree the Whomping Willow?"
Some spectators in the stands recognized the true identity of the tree before Jordan.
"The charming French lady is in trouble," Fred grinned widely; he had made several good deals, "It's the Whomping Willow!"
His smile nearly reached his ears: "Fleur Delacour is in trouble, and it seems she doesn't know that the tree can move."
When there are no intruders within its attack range, the Whomping Willow will remain in an immobile state and is indistinguishable from an ordinary tree. Fleur, as a newcomer, naturally didn't know how dangerous that large willow was. To her, it was simply a common tree with a chest hidden underneath.
She approached the Whomping Willow carelessly, while her Silver Wolf ran happily ahead of her.
In the instant Fleur's footsteps entered the tree's shadow, she felt something hitting her from behind, but thanks to the Protego Charm, her back was protected. Otherwise, she would have already been knocked to the ground.
"What's happening?" Fleur was surprised; she could hear the sound of something whistling like a whip nearby, and then she saw segments of forearm-thick branches appearing in front of her. These branches were shaking violently, as if they were rejecting the arrival of visitors. Her wolf was close to her and was being attacked by fist-thick roots.
Fleur found herself in a difficult situation. She didn't know whether to quickly retreat or try to reach the chest under the tree in one go. At that moment, she saw an opening in the tree's roots, an opening that was in a blind spot for the attack.
So she made a decision and struggled to advance, trying to break through the tree's branches' blockade.
Fleur was very agile, and with the help of the defensive alchemical items she had used before, she managed to break through the tree's branch blockade and reach the edge of the roots. However, her wolf wasn't as well-equipped as she was. A thick branch struck the silver wolf's waist and abdomen forcefully.
Wolves are tough but have a weak waist. The Whomping Willow's blow was a critical hit and caused more damage than the transformation could withstand. So, the Silver Wolf was instantly knocked back to its original form, reverting to its stone form.
The second willow branch descended and struck the stone into pieces, scattering stone fragments everywhere. By chance, a small stone fragment fell onto a knot on the tree. After being touched, the tree suddenly calmed down and stopped moving.
Fleur: ?
What happened? Why did it suddenly stop?
The incident was sudden, and Fleur didn't see clearly what happened. She could only attribute it to her good luck or the sacrifice of a living creature.
But since that strange large tree had stopped attacking, that was a good thing after all. She could open the chest!
Fleur lost a wolf and two alchemical items at the hands of the Whomping Willow, so if she didn't find something good inside the chest, she would be at a disadvantage.
Fleur approached the chest and silently prayed: she hoped it would be a powerful alchemical item, or even fragments of the magical bracelet, if that were possible.
She observed the closed chest and took a deep breath.
"Alohomora!" At the unlocking spell, the small lock obediently opened for Fleur.
Fleur sighed in relief. She thought the lock might have some kind of curse, or she was even prepared for an explosive spell, but it turned out she was worrying too much.
Fleur entered a relaxed state, holding the lock with joy and preparing to open the chest. However, the moment her hand touched the lock, she felt a hook that quickly latched onto her behind her navel.
"Cursed!" Fleur, who had already used Portkeys several times, immediately understood what had happened. At that moment, she just wanted to curse.
The next second, she fell into a pond.
Quidditch Stadium.
From the commentators to the students and teachers, all the spectators fell silent.
"So... the chest had a trap?" Jordan was the first to break the silence.
"Exactly! Fleur Delacour fell into the chest's trap and was teleported away. Is it possible to add traps inside chests?"
Everyone was stunned. Adding traps inside a chest, that could only be the work of someone very sinister.
Fleur had the misfortune of encountering the legendary "Chest Monster." What was worse was that, after shaking off the water droplets from her face, she saw a fire dragon staring at her.
Fleur: !!!
While Fleur was struggling with the Whomping Willow for the chest, Cedric was racking his brains trying to guess riddles.
The Sphinx straightforwardly told Cedric that she had a fragment of the magical bracelet and a fragment of the map in her possession. She would ask him three questions; if he answered one correctly, he could leave unscathed; if he answered two correctly, he could take a valuable item; and if he answered all three correctly, he could take all the treasures.
The characteristic of these magical creatures, the Sphinxes, is that they enjoy making riddles. If you don't guess the correct answer, they devour you. Of course, the Sphinx contracted by the Department of Magic wasn't so ferocious, but if you answered incorrectly, Cedric would be teleported back to the "starting point."
Cedric decided to risk it for the map and the fragment of the magical bracelet. At this moment, he had nothing to lose. He was desperate to make up for lost ground.
"Champion, tell me, what devours everything: birds, beasts, flowers, trees? Bites steel, breaks stone, kills kings, destroys walls, and even topples mountains.
What can make the dead come back to life, makes you cry, makes you laugh, rejuvenates you, is born in an instant but lasts a lifetime?
What is always old but sometimes new; never sad but sometimes melancholic; never empty but sometimes full; never pushed but always pulled?"
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