great-warnovel Chapter 147 A Small Bet
Chapter 147 A Small Bet
Chapter 147 A Small Bet
For Hermione, the difficulty wasn't in completing these steps, but in ensuring that she wouldn't make mistakes due to a lack of proficiency during the actual practice.
She read the notes quite carefully several times, and at the same time, she gained some understanding of the precise and restrained determination that Professor McGonagall had mentioned required for transformation. So she summoned the castle's house-elves to bring her a large meat rat for her experiments.
When Harry and his friends tumbled off the Pensieve in a daze, they saw a chubby rat that Hermione transformed into Ron, then Harry, and then Neville.
However, her skill level was still a little lacking. When the rat, which was a size larger than a chicken, was transformed to the size of a human, it looked somewhat limp. The transformed Harry also had some fine downy hair on his face, but fortunately, he didn't have rat whiskers.
"Hey! Hermione, what are you doing! Are you playing tricks on us while we're suffering?!" Harry grimaced and rubbed his butt, where he had been kicked hard by the tree-guarding horse.
"Merlin's pants! I told you we should have gone around him, a medieval magic knight in full heavy armor who can use reflective spells! We can't even beat that horse!" Ron, still shaken, moved his neck, which had been broken quite badly when he fell off the cliff while fleeing for his life.
On the contrary, Nave, although his face was twitching from the pain, was surprisingly in good spirits, his eyes were bright, as if he couldn't wait to go in and start the next round.
"It's better than I expected," Hermione said, while practicing her control over biomorphic transformations.
"I thought you'd be out in ten minutes."
"The Tree Guardian is the final challenge of this trial. It was placed at the entrance simply so that you can start quickly every time in the future. Going around it is not a problem at all."
Harry said angrily, "You should have told us sooner!"
"We only killed a few wolves and goats, and suddenly a horseman emerged from the forest path, and he could even deflect our spells with his big shield! This is outrageous!"
"Even Gryffindor himself couldn't possibly be wearing heavy armor, wielding a golden halberd in one hand, and making us run all over the mountain!"
Hermione raised an eyebrow: "What, are you already giving up?"
Harry scoffed, "How could that be! I was just venting about the designer's dark side!"
He looked at Ron and Neville: "Guys, we need to have a plan! And I don't think we should go in and challenge the Tree Guardians!"
"You're right, the king should be last!" Ron said through gritted teeth, rubbing his neck.
"Compared to Hermione, our combat skills are far inferior. At least in battles like wolf packs or mad soldiers, we need to be able to handle them skillfully first, then there's that eerie-looking tomb, and the ugly giant wandering on the hillside!"
"Hermione, you have such a clever idea! Sew trolls and giants together—are they called trolls? They're so ugly!"
Neville hesitated for a moment before looking at Hermione and suggesting, "Maybe you could put some magical plants in there? I've tasted those little red wild berries by the roadside; they're sour but still palatable. If we could concoct potions in them or collect magical plants, our fighting methods might become more diverse."
Hermione couldn't bring herself to tell him that the Loa Fruit was used to feed horses where they lived.
She shrugged: "I'd like to, but the spiritual realm is quite profound. Professor Lockhart's notes have already been a great help to me, but my research journey is still very long."
She pointed to the large rat in front of her: "I promised Harry I would study the Animagus first."
Harry chuckled and patted Neville on the shoulder: "Let's just make do for now so we can all learn to shapeshift as soon as possible."
"Exactly!" Ron chimed in.
"We don't know what our shapeshifting creatures are, so we can't give ourselves cool nicknames like Uncle James and the others!"
Hermione really didn't understand what was so cool about nicknames like "Pointy Fork" and "Big Foot." She scratched her messy hair, which had become disheveled from studying: "I know the basic process by heart, but I'm not quite proficient in the subtle details of transformation."
"We happen to have mandrakes growing in our herbalism class this year, so maybe we can go to the greenhouse and pick some leaves in a while." The greenhouse key that Professor Sprout gave us will come in handy now.
"There are also Grimace Moth and Thunderbird feathers. The former should be found in Professor Lily's materials cabinet, while the latter will probably have to rely on Fleur's connections. The one that Beauxbatons caught, I suppose he wouldn't mind selling us some of its tail feathers."
Harry's eyes lit up, and he provocatively said, "How about we have a contest, Hermione!"
"Let's see if you can transform into a human first, or if we can defeat the tree guardians first!"
Hermione tossed the now-restored rat onto his head: "You're quite the clever one! The first step for the Animagus is to suck on a mandrake leaf for a month!"
"Besides its reflective shield, the Tree Guardian has almost no spellcasting ability. It would take you a month to defeat it. You might as well go back to your freshman year and continue learning tactical rolls!"
Harry chuckled and took the giant rat off his head. The creature had been tamed quite docilely; no matter how Hermione transformed it, it remained completely lifeless, its mental state as stable as a capybara.
"Then let's set the timer at one month! Let's see if you persevere and complete the first step of Animagus first, or if we defeat the Tree Guardians first!"
Hermione thought about it and realized that the bet was quite disadvantageous to her. If she were to face the Tree Guardian alone, she might indeed find it difficult to win due to the constant charging and suppression. However, if the three spellcasters cooperated seamlessly, as long as they controlled the distance, it would not be difficult to toy with and kill the Tree Guardian.
However, this is not a serious gamble. If it can motivate the three of them to grow quickly, it doesn't matter if they lose.
A smile played on her lips as she replied, "No problem, I accept the bet. If I lose, I'll give each of you a gift, how about it?"
"Really!" The three boys' eyes lit up immediately.
"certainly!"
"Then it's a deal, if we lose—" Harry scratched his head, wondering what he could wager.
"If we lose, you get to decide the nickname for the new raiders!" Neville had clearly hit the nail on the head.
Hermione looked up at the clock on the wall.
"The bet is now in effect. Consider tonight's a slack. It's only a little past 10 o'clock, so you can challenge me a few more times."
"Ha! Arrogant Lion Queen, you will pay for this!" Ron shouted, burying his head in the Pensieve first.
The other two were not to be outdone and followed suit.
"Little boys are too easy to manipulate; it's like bullying an idiot." Hermione chuckled and shook her head, continuing to practice her Transfiguration on the giant rat.