Chapter 355 The Beginning of the Hogwarts Warriors
"We must have a practical training." Amanta glanced at everyone, standing in the middle of the room, with a firm tone.
"From now on, the SO team is no longer just a study group, but a combat team."
Harry clenched his wand: "Come on, I've been waiting for this day for a long time!"
Julius smiled calmly: "I just want to see if other people besides you are worthy of my cooperation."
Draco shook his cloak and snorted, "Don't wait to cooperate with us. Find a way not to fall behind first."
"Stop arguing." Amanta raised her hand to suppress the quarrel, her tone unquestionable.
"Now, divide into groups."
She looked up at the other four people, "Hermione, Neville, Luna, Cedric, you form a team. We will form a team of four."
"The rules are simple: actual combat, no lethal spells allowed, no malicious attacks allowed, all range and barrier spells allowed."
“The goal is to control the other team until the last person standing.”
Hermione swung her sleeves: "We are not vegetarians either."
Neville raised his wand nervously: "I'll be careful not to trip anyone..."
"It's too late." Luna had already walked leisurely to the front of their team. "You'd better be careful. Cedric will use many high-level spells."
After a spell was cast, the scene in the Room of Requirement changed rapidly. The long table, sofa, and cushions disappeared, and a training ground filled with high and low shelters, magical barriers, and floating stairs appeared before the eyes.
There were golden countdown numbers floating on the wall: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1——
"start!"
"boom!!"
The battle begins.
Harry: "Dizzy!"
Hermione: "Armor!"
The two spells collided in the air, creating a dazzling light.
"Quick Imprisonment!" Luna appeared out of nowhere and cast a spell that almost knocked Harry to the ground.
"Sorry!" Neville stepped on the corner of Cedric's robe when he turned around in a panic, and the latter staggered and almost hit the wall.
"…Neville, don't be nervous." Cedric said with a headache.
"Thorny entanglement!" Draco jumped down from the floating steps above and cast a vine-like spell, trying to hold Hermione back.
"Are you here to do the gardening?" Harry shouted.
Julius didn't say anything, but had already slipped into the shadows, outflanked her, and cast a silent spell directly at Luna -
"Stop the curse immediately!" Luna seemed to sense it, turned lightly, and blocked it with a flick of her sleeves.
"Flame!" Hermione suddenly leaped out of cover and cast a spell straight ahead - but accidentally set the corner of Neville's robes on fire!
"Ahhhh! It's on fire!"
"Put out the fire!"
Amanta covered her forehead.
Just as she was about to join the battle, Cedric's "Expelliarmus" suddenly came at her. Amanta dodged it with a swipe of her feet, but because Harry rushed over recklessly -
"I'm here to support you!"
"You tripped me!"
Harry stepped on the hem of Amanta's robe and pulled her hard, causing her to stagger.
"...Are you two dancing?" Draco watched coldly, "Harry, you better just be there, let me do it."
The next second, he was hit on the knee by Luna's sliding tackle.
"...I retract my preamble."
Half an hour later, the combat training ended in a blunder.
Everyone was either lying on the ground or leaning against shelters, gasping for breath. Some people's hair was standing on end, some had holes burned in their robes, and some had faces covered in dust.
"This, this is not training..." Neville slumped to the ground, "This, this is an accident scene..."
Amanta leaned against the wall: "Well, ... our teamwork is indeed a bit problematic."
"Huh?" Harry wanted to say something, but Draco held his head down.
"Problems? Not 'a few' problems, but 'a lot' of them."
Julius sat quietly by the side, brushing the dust off his robe as if it had nothing to do with him.
"But," he suddenly said, "if we don't want to die in the first game, we'd better practice more seriously next time."
The atmosphere froze for a moment.
Then Amanta stood up straight and said softly, "Of course, this is just the first step."
"In the following training, we will get better and better."
"We have no other choice."
She looked at everyone with bright and determined eyes.
"We are the warriors of Hogwarts."
These words fell heavily in silence.
No one spoke anymore, but everyone's expressions gradually became serious.
Amanta clapped his hands and said in a deep voice: "Although the training just now was chaotic, it was not without gain."
She glanced around, looking at seven faces that looked either tired or dusty.
"The purpose of this battle was never to determine the winner, but to expose our problems. Team coordination is chaotic, spells are fighting, actions are interfering with each other... We must admit that we are not worthy of standing on that battlefield right now."
"So..." She paused, "Everyone, go back tonight and write a self-reflection report. Analyze the problems you encountered in the battle, the problems in the coordination between you and your teammates, why there was confusion, interference, and accidental injuries, and how to improve it."
“There is no limit to the number of words, but the content must be honest and not perfunctory.”
Harry grimaced: "I still have to write a paper..."
"If you'd rather be blasted in the face, you don't have to write it." Draco snorted and brushed the dust off his shoulders.
"And you have to hand it in at the next gathering." Amanta added, as calmly as a professor, "Now, let's start the 2v2 training, starting with the tacit understanding between the two of us."
"Harry and Draco versus Hermione and Neville."
“The rest of the people observed and analyzed and recorded their questions.”
The battle begins.
Harry and Draco were having their usual "cooperative quarrel".
"Don't fight me!" Draco roared.
"You nearly poked my eye with your wand!" Harry shot back.
"You should stand on the left—not my left, but your left!"
"Tell me which one is left!"
At the same time, Hermione gave textbook-like precise commands and cooperated with Neville to frequently counterattack.
"Smoke spell, to interfere with their vision—"
"Flying spell, seize the opponent's weapon!"
Although Neville was a little flustered and stumbled when reciting the spell, at least under Hermione's command he performed much better than before.
The crowd nodding or taking notes, Julius even leaning against the wall leisurely, muttering as he watched, "It's rare to see Longbottom behave like this."
Amanta ignored him, her attention was drawn to another person——
Cedric.
He stood aside, with a gentle expression and a faint smile, watching the training on the field seriously, but there was a fleeting trace of loneliness in his eyes.
The sense of loss was well hidden, but was still captured by Amanta.
She hesitated for a moment, then quietly walked over and whispered, "Cedric."
Cedric turned his head and smiled, "Hmm?"
Amanta looked at him and said seriously: "...I'm sorry."
"I thought - you would definitely be a champion of Hogwarts."
“I don’t know why it became us.”
Cedric was stunned for a moment, then smiled gently: "No, you don't have to apologize. It was the choice of the Goblet of Fire, and it has nothing to do with you."
His tone was relaxed, but the slight loneliness in his eyes was still there.
Amanta hesitated for a moment, and finally took out an exquisite little box from the Sage's Ring.
The box is frosted silver, inlaid with a blue moonstone. Push it gently to reveal the contents inside.
A specially crafted quill pen, the shaft of which is made from a rare thunderwood tree, with a glowing inscription floating on the end.
"When I saw it in Diagon Alley, I thought it suited you."
"Maybe... it can come in handy when you're in a bad mood." She said softly.
Cedric stared at the quill, stunned.
He stretched out his hand, touched lightly with his fingertips, and whispered after a moment:
"…Thank you, Amanta."
He chuckled and took the gift, as if the loss weighing on his heart was gently soothed bit by bit.
“I will treasure it.”
Amanta nodded, stood beside him and looked at the four people who were still arguing about "cooperation" in the field, and sighed: "We really need to practice for another hundred years."
"If they're still like this on the day of the competition, I'll have Norma grill them first."
Cedric chuckled, and his brows finally relaxed a little.
"Then I hope you don't write them a suicide note first."
Training continues.
The night slowly fell through the simulated window of the Room of Requirement. Moonlight poured into the Room of Requirement, and the floor was covered with flashes of spells and floating silhouettes of people.
This was the first time they had truly assembled as the "Hogwarts Warriors".
It is also the beginning of the SO group's move towards maturity.