Right now, the designer was sitting inside his Room of Requirement. In front of him were six miniature fire dragon figurines, vivid and lifelike, brawling atop the table.
These six miniatures had all been retrieved by Aurors at the request of Regulus Black, collected from the champions under the guise of ticket fees.
Who would actually care about these six props? No matter how exquisitely they were crafted, they were ultimately just tools used for the champions to draw lots.
The only person who might care was Draco Malfoy. According to Pansy Parkinson, the platinum blond had even gone to ask the Aurors about them.
Whether or not he could actually find out where the mini dragons had gone was another matter. But even if he did learn that they were with Regulus Black, would he really be able to reclaim one?
"Have your original bodies all returned to your homelands?"Regulus Black asked the six miniature dragons.
"My Australian Opaleye has already arrived home!""My Chinese Fireball has returned to the eastern lands!""My Hebridean Black is still flying, but the islands are in sight!""My Ukrainian Ironbelly has already eaten.""My Swedish Short-Snout is soaking in a hot spring.""My Welsh Green seems to have been hypnotized and went home on its own."
One after another, the six mini dragons reported on their real counterparts' whereabouts. Clearly, there was a connection between each miniature and its respective full-sized fire dragon. Otherwise, how could they be so aware of their originals' current locations and activities?
Regulus Black had used the opportunity of crafting these miniatures to extract blood from the original dragons, using it as the core material for the figures.
Although they were technically synthetic constructs, in a way, they could be seen as the offspring of the original fire dragons.
"So, have you all agreed to the contract I proposed earlier?"Regulus Black sat there with an air of calm, though in truth he was extremely tense inside.
During direct contact, he had proposed a contract—Bloodline Interweaving—to the six fire dragons.
This was a magical pact capable of altering the very origin of a wizard's bloodline. Only powerful ancient sorcerers had ever used such magic, and by now, contracts of this kind had vanished from existence. In modern times, even Veela-blooded witches like the Delacour sisters were considered rare specimens.
What Regulus Black was offering was his personal protective charm: Golden Memory—Dragon Egg Sanctuary. The dragons could reside within it to seek immortality, while also providing bloodline pacts to the descendants of the Black family.
"My Chinese Fireball agreed.""My Welsh Green agreed too.""My Ukrainian Ironbelly has no objections.""Neither does the Australian Opaleye.""The Hebridean Black agrees!""My Swedish Short-Snout… fell asleep!"
"Even the Welsh Green has made it home and woken up. What's going on with yours? Falling asleep after a bath is one thing, but this is the worst possible time! Hurry up and wake up, cast your vote, and then go back to sleep."
Regulus pointed at the mini Swedish Short-Snout, then channeled a pulse of mental energy through the link between them. It crossed space and time to rouse the lazy dragon soaking in the hot spring.
"Ugh! I'm awake! I'm awake! I agree! I agree!"
The mini Swedish Short-Snout flipped over, lifted its head, and cast its vote—completing the contract in an instant.
Regulus Black took out his protective charm, the Golden Memory—Dragon Egg Sanctuary. It was still the same radiant golden dragon egg, though now a piece had broken off—large enough for a finger to slip through. Through the crack, one could peer into the world inside. If you focused, you could clearly see it: six fire dragons, who had agreed to the pact, descended from the heavens like shooting stars and began to search for places they liked to reside.
First, a unicorn moved in and became a shapeshifting druid. Then, six fire dragons followed. The Dragon Egg Sanctuary was growing increasingly lively.
After the fire dragon task ended, the first challenge for the champions was to uncover the secret of the dragon egg. This became the hottest topic of the time.
Of course, no one dared to open the dragon egg to listen to the song anymore. Regardless of what magical creature's language it was, it was far too overwhelming for human ears. Listening to it for too long could easily lead to irritability and impulsiveness. Recently, fights had begun to break out more frequently at Hogwarts.
"Stop that right now!"
Professor Sprout pulled apart two of her students from her own house. They had suddenly gotten into a fight.
The two of them had been on their way to class when they started swinging fists, leaving each other's faces bruised and red. The corners of their eyes, mouths, and noses were all tinged with bright red—if their ears had been bleeding too, they'd look like they were bleeding from every orifice.
"Why are you fighting?"
Professor Sprout asked sternly, though she quickly regretted questioning them so publicly.
"I'm the one who loves Cedric the most! I'm willing to offer him my flower, but you—you're just ogling Cedric's flower without ever intending to give up your own!"
One of the chubby boys was shaking with emotion, as if he'd just caught his girlfriend cheating.
"You can keep your flower and use it to fart for all I care! I'm willing to give Cedric a good morning bite, even a goodnight bite. If Cedric needed it, I'd pull out all my teeth just to make sure I never hurt him, not even a little."
The other chubby boy gave him a double middle finger, coming dangerously close to poking the other's eyes out.
Professor Sprout instantly had the urge to resign on the spot. Why had she asked that question? Thanks to her one sentence, Hufflepuff's dignity was completely shattered.
Some boys from Durmstrang Institute of Magic leaned against the corridor pillars nearby, barely able to contain their laughter as they watched the scene unfold.
As for the girls from Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, they had already burst into giggles and left after hearing what the first chubby boy said.
This year was the Triwizard Tournament, and some students from the other two schools were staying at Hogwarts for an extended period. While they didn't attend classes with Hogwarts students, they were allowed to audit any lessons they wanted.
This period was supposed to be a time for Hogwarts students to boost their school spirit and demonstrate good discipline. But the song from the dragon egg was far too powerful. The champions from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang had been strictly ordered to only experiment with the egg's sound at least a hundred meters away from the castle—near the carriage and the ship, respectively.
But the two Hogwarts champions had opened the egg directly in their dormitories, affecting a large number of students. The egg's sound altered their moods, making many of them unusually irritable and aggressive.
All this was done in the name of studying the dragon egg's sound. Other students at Hogwarts understood the need for it—but opening the egg in the dormitories? Was that really wise? The person opening the egg might be at the eye of the storm and thus less affected, but even students separated by a single wall had been seriously disturbed.
And with only one month left before the second task began—the date already set—none of the six champions had solved the mystery of the dragon egg. It was an awkward situation. Were they really going to be disqualified just because they couldn't solve the puzzle?
Of course not! Barty Crouch strongly refuted that notion.
The Ministry of Magic had considered all possibilities. There was ample time left between the two events to allow champions to prepare. So there was no question of disqualifying anyone simply for failing to solve the riddle.
At worst, they would just participate in the second task without knowing what to expect! Winning or losing was fate's decision—if you're not prepared, you can't blame anyone else.
Put that way, it almost sounded reasonable, leaving all six champions stunned and speechless.
One month might seem like a lot of time, but in reality, the champions didn't have much left. They still had to attend classes and take exams. Eating and sleeping also ate into their time. Even if they devoted every spare moment to solving the dragon egg's riddle, they would still need luck and inspiration. Without any hints, trying to decipher a completely unfamiliar phenomenon was like asking a primary school student to tackle a university thesis.
With time running out, they had no choice but to swallow their pride and ask professors or headmasters for help.
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