great-warnovel Chapter 153 Everything is Ready
Chapter 153 Everything is Ready
Chapter 153 Everything is Ready
Without hesitation, after instructing the three boys to go to the Room of Requirement on their own, Hermione first went to the Transfiguration office to find McGonagall, and then the two of them went into the Headmaster's office together.
"Verdon Grand Canyon?" McGonagall frowned.
"That's not a good place."
Seeing Hermione's confusion, she explained, "There was a rumor that there was a goblin cave there that was very important to the goblins, and the Vigilantes burned the entire canyon with Fiendfire."
"The fire lasted for a whole year, and even now, the underground caves there still spew out fierce flames from time to time. The black smoke rising from the fire accumulates in the canyon and is filled with deadly toxins; inhaling large amounts can have serious consequences."
"As one of the deepest canyons in the world, it now has another name—the Rift of Hell."
Hermione wasn't scared at all: "The Caro siblings certainly know how to pick a place. A hellish trial, haha!"
But McGonagall wasn't as relaxed as she was. She asked in detail, "Didn't you see the basilisk? That's so strange. It's impossible for a basilisk to move with the castle without being detected."
Hermione recalled that the scene in her third eye was blurry, and there were no other moving objects besides the Carol siblings.
"Maybe they've already moved the basilisk to the canyon." She didn't care much about these minor details.
Dumbledore remained deep in thought and did not offer any opinion.
McGonagall pursed her lips and asked Hermione, "Child, are you sure you want to continue?"
"A thousand-year-old mutated basilisk, two infamous dark wizards, and a cursed object specifically designed to deal with Lockhart."
"We could easily catch them all by surprise when they approach Draco during the next field trip if we wanted to."
Hermione was about to speak, but Dumbledore smiled and patted McGonagall on the shoulder first.
"If you ask me, you're worrying too much." He chuckled and handed the candy on the table to McGonagall, even though he couldn't eat any more himself, he still left it there.
"Isn't everything under our control?"
"Tenmoku, what an unfair ability," he exclaimed.
"But fortunately, they're on our side this time."
The old ghost counted on his fingers as he recounted to McGonagall: "The enemy's objectives and movements, the timing, method, and location of their attack, are all within our grasp."
"And just how strong are we?"
"There's the greatest white wizard, at least the second best in the world," Hermione replied with a smile.
Dumbledore chuckled: "Oh, thank you, child, but besides me, we have the best professors."
With the world's only powerful energy source, even Voldemort himself, or Gellert, probably wouldn't want to face a direct bombardment from Hogwarts.
"But we choose not to use any of these, and instead let a young professor and a few children face it." McGonagall frowned.
"But that's the meaning of the trial, isn't it?" Dumbledore looked at the old woman through his half-moon spectacles.
"We can quietly take over the Carlo siblings' anti-Apparition barrier, then remain hidden and observe the whole thing from the sidelines."
To ensure that everything is under control.
Hermione chimed in, "You have no idea how much progress Harry and the others have made recently. They'll surprise you and Professor Potter in the end."
She smiled and said, "If you both trust me, you can leave this trial entirely to my discretion, how about that?"
The two headmasters exchanged a glance, and with Dumbledore's encouraging look, McGonagall finally nodded with difficulty.
Perhaps because of the upcoming actions of the Carrow siblings, Hermione also felt a little anxious, but not because of the pressure from the Death Eaters and the Basilisk. Rather, she wanted to learn how to be an Animagus as soon as possible before all of this happened, so that she wouldn't have to worry about Neville suddenly having a whim and igniting his tail feathers during a field experiment.
With even greater fervor, it seemed that Animagus's progress would accelerate. She had been casting spells on her heart every day recently and could already faintly hear a heartbeat.
So she found Neville and gave him the Thunderbird's tail feathers.
"Will it really be as I wish? At any time?" Neville asked hesitantly, somewhat surprised that this responsibility had fallen on his shoulders.
"Whenever I'm around, rely on your instincts, whether it's during class or any other situation," Hermione instructed.
She actually wanted to warn Neville against lighting fires while practicing in the wild, because that would force her to return to the castle immediately to drink the potion, leaving her unable to look after the others.
However, Animagus's final step relies on randomness. Jaime and his team have already removed the most demanding part, which involves waiting for a thunderstorm that could take an unknown amount of time. If they were to add their own human intervention, it could lead to undesirable results.
Neville carefully put away the long feathers, not knowing when he would suddenly decide to burn them.
"I hope everything goes smoothly! Once you've mastered the human transformation, you can start instructing us!" Harry said eagerly. Hermione's progress was fast and excellent, without a single problem.
"You must have given this feather-burning job to Neville because you were afraid we'd launch a surprise attack and catch you off guard!" Ron pointed out the problem incisively.
"Hey Naveen, how about you wait until the graduation banquet to burn the feathers, so she can successfully miss out on a big meal?" he suggested with a wicked grin.
"Let's not do it. It's not you who will get beaten to death later." Neville is the one who understands things best.
Hermione looked at Ron with a probing gaze: "Mr. Weasley, why don't you guess who will burn your feathers when you learn to be an Animagus?"
Ron paused. At that time, only Hermione had completed the transformation, so it was highly likely that she was the one who did it.
"You wouldn't want to be in the middle of using the bathroom and suddenly see a rain cloud rising outside the door, would you?" Hermione said gloomily.
Ron imagined himself rushing to the Room of Requirement with his pants half up, and couldn't help but shudder.
"Okay, okay, I was wrong! Let Neville decide for himself!" He raised his hands in surrender.
"But Hermione, haven't you ever wondered what your Animagus is?" Ron asked.
Hermione shrugged: "Generally speaking, Animagus and Patronus are basically the same, but I haven't been able to summon a physical Patronus yet."
She thought for a moment, then continued, "Uncle James and the others improved the Animagus, which caused the animals to undergo certain mutations. For example, Little Pettigrew's flying squirrel form is different from normal flying squirrels, which can't fly that high or that far. As for Uncle James's stag and Sirius Black's black dog, perhaps because they didn't soak the Moonfox feces extract in Mandrake leaves, they didn't undergo any changes."
"That's disgusting! I'd rather wait until the full moon, I'm not in a hurry for those few days!" Ron said with a face full of resistance.
Besides the trio, Hermione also spoke privately with Lockhart and Draco, informing them of the upcoming Carol siblings' plan, as the next field practice class was approaching.
Lockhart is alright, since this time he only needs to continue pretending to know nothing.
Draco was now truly facing a test. He had to guard the secret of his mind from Alecto and prevent Legilimency from reading it at will again.
"Why don't you just prepare a brain-sealing helmet for me?" he said with a bitter face.
However, although Alexios possesses Legilimency, her abilities are significantly weaker than those of natural mind readers. She cannot freely access the memories of house-elves or truly powerful wizards, and only underage wizards and Muggles can be bullied by her.
Therefore, Hermione refused Draco's request without hesitation. According to Lockhart's description, the kid's Occlumency technique was progressing very quickly, and he could now even fabricate false memories to a certain extent.
"By the way, Professor, what's the next field trip going to be like?" Hermione asked casually.
"It's the Spirit Cat! The part we were interrupted from last time and didn't finish," Lockhart laughed.