Harry grinned and was about to say something when he suddenly heard Ron's scream. He turned back, as Ron rushed out of the bush with his face covered, followed by two furry prickly balls, caped squirrels, only their feet and noses visible, they jumped up from high and slammed into Ron's back, and Ron let out another scream.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
"Stupefy!"
Harry and Hermione chanted a spell at the same time, and the two caped squirrels were hit.
"What's wrong with him?" Cedric looked at Ron in confusion as Ron groaned in pain.
"Slapped by the tail of cloaked squirrels in the face twice," Hermione said, reaching into her pocket and rummaging around for a while before pulling out a bottle of potion.
"You have some small stingers ... that need to be pulled out first, I don't know if it will hurt-" Hermione pulled a small stinger from Ron's neck.
Ron let out a loud yelp.
"You have to bear it--" Hermione's fingers twitched as she pulled another stinger off, Ron screamed even more, she looked at Harry with pause, and Harry walked over to her.
"I'll help too." Cedric grabbed his own wand and stood up.
"La tallpeee (trophy)," Ron said vaguely.
"What?" Harry questioned flabbergasted.
"I think he's talking about the trophy." Cedric chuckled, "Accio trophy!" He pointed at the trophy in the distance, and it immediately flew into his hand, he looked at it twice with mixed emotions and handed it to Harry with fondness.
Harry hesitated for a moment.
"Take it, it's what you deserve." Cedric said.
Harry took it, thought very carefully for two seconds, and said to him, "You're a good rival."
Cedric laughed heartily, "So you are, Harry."
Hermione said impatiently at the moment with her hands in the air, " You two, can you help - we are still in the game, say it has been so long, how come the others have not come?"
Cedric rubbed his nose a little awkwardly.
"Uh, I guess they are trapped by the puffball ..."
"Wheez (When) youuz (you) meez (meet) zha muzom (that mushroom)?" Ron asked with a big tongue.
Cedric explained: "Roger and I met in the fourth level, and after that, we found Collins in the fifth level and moved together, that level is full of strange terrain -" Harry nodded, as they also ran into several things.
"When we were almost at the entrance of the next level, we accidentally broke into the territory of the puffball(*I can't find this creature mentioned*), this magical creature has no blood and bones, at first glance, it looks like a large mass of fluff that can split at will ... in fact, this is a misconception, they like to live in groups, often large groups of them balled up into one, it is said they're closely related to Puffskein. They live like plants, when the wind blows, they will roll together with it; they hunt the prey that approaches them, once there are other creatures close, their fur will quickly become long and thick, and then they'll warp their fur around the prey; the more you struggle, the more tightly you'll be wrapped ..."
"So Collins and Roger are trapped?" Harry rushed the question when he saw Cedric's tendency to make long speeches.
"Only Roger," Cedric said, " we did not take it seriously, the puffball, although extremely tough, but as long as you do not struggle without making a move, the fur will continue to shrink, this and the devil's snare are somewhat similar ... ..."
"There must have been an accident in the middle." Harry said with certainty.
"Yeah," Cedric sighed, "in fact, if one is willing to spend some time smoothing out its fur, it will calm down. But two other guys from Uagadou showed up, one turned into an elephant and one sat on it as they trampled the floor ... Collins went up and persuaded them to stop, but they refused to listen because there was barely a space even for a person to pass, and they thought we are deliberately blocking them... ..."
"... Their suspicions had a point, and the song of the trophy made everyone's heart race ..."
Harry could already imagine the scene.
"Naturally they got trapped, and because they struggled so much, some of the puffballs were blown around, covering the nearby corridors, and all the necessary paths were blocked. Collins and I were forced to separate, Collins was smoothing the puffball down there, and I came to the sixth level ..."
So, now all the champions except them are mending puffball's fur? Harry imagined the scene and found it weird as hell.
After another moment, the stingers on Ron's body were pulled clean, Hermione applied a potion on his face, and the wound healed quickly. In the meantime, the trophy sang twice more like a joke, and Harry had to leave it behind for the moment.
...
"So ... see you in a bit," Cedric said as he sat on the floor, leaning against a statue, sleeping next to Nona Leibert and Krum. Ron and Hermione held the trophy left and right, and the key would activate as soon as Harry placed his hand on it.
Harry paused and extended an invitation to Cedric, "Why don't we go out together, the rules only state that a team must be gathered to activate the key, it doesn't say that others cannot be included."
Cedric smiled and shook his head, "I'm going to wait for my teammates."
"All right then." Harry said, turning his head to look at Ron and Hermione who are covered in dirt, he guessed he must be in a mess too, but they both had excited expressions on their faces, "Ready? It can't be that fun."
"Is this a last bit of misery before receiving the prize?" Ron asked with a grin.
Harry grinned likewise and placed his hand on the trophy, then he felt a hook tugging his navel, as the seventh level of the maze disappeared before his eyes, and the last thing he saw was Cedric smiling and waving at them.
The competition concluded successfully, they got the championship, Harry now just want to sleep hard, it is best to wake up on the summer holiday.
...
"Finally ..." Felix said with emotion. He covered his bowler hat and his figure disappeared abruptly. When he reappeared, he had stepped on a shabby path in a small, isolated village. Not far from him, a small church stood in the darkness, the outline of which he could barely see.
In the distance, there is a looming shadow.
"That's the cemetery?"
"Yes, Professor." Hermione hidden in the bowler hat said, Felix's hand on the hat, bent low as that Hat flipped, Hermione carefully jumped out of it, with a gold chain more than ten times bigger than her - the time-turner is almost as tall as her.
Under the effect of the zooming spell, Hermione grew little by little and regained her original size.
"This is your beaded pouch." Felix took out a small pouch from his shirt pocket and handed it to Hermione, "The zooming spell still has an effect on such magic items, but the time-turner is ... let's see, oh yes, and the ring." He took the ring off his hand and handed it to Hermione at the same time.
" Keep it with you for now."
"Professor, do you really think that the Ministry of Magic will do something against you? How dare they do that?"
"Just be prepared," Felix said with a shrug, "We're going to split up, so estimate your time well, use the disillusionment charm and all other concealment magic to hide, and go back when the time is right... you can make it, Gran... Miss Jane."
"Yes!"
Felix smiled faintly and turned around to walk towards the graveyard.
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