A flash of silver light, and Evans and Hermione appeared in an open space. With Evans waving his wand, their figures quickly enlarged, restoring to their original size.
Having restored their forms, Hermione raised her head and looked around.
Professor Flitwick was riding a broomstick, circling in mid-air, while on the other side, a tabby cat was lying on top of a tree, eyes watching the direction of the castle, face showing an interested smile.
Seeing Evans and Hermione, who had suddenly appeared on the ground, the tabby cat's face showed some confusion. She leaped toward the ground, and in the process of jumping had already transformed into the appearance Hermione was very familiar with.
"Good morning, Professor McGonagall."
"Mm, good morning, Miss Granger."
Nodding at Hermione, Professor McGonagall looked toward Evans.
"What happened to her? I saw you put the eliminated young wizards in the compartment on the top floor, so she shouldn't have been eliminated?"
"This is a long story."
Glancing at Professor Flitwick, who was riding his broom circling around the castle, then looking at the assessment taking place in the castle, Evans said softly:
"After the assessment ends, I'll explain to you and Professor Flitwick together."
"They're about to gather enough seal fragments. Next will be a pure hard battle."
"Pure hard battle?" Professor McGonagall's face flashed with confusion, but this confusion quickly turned to amusement.
"The one you had me modify based on Hogwarts' protective magic?"
"Mm, that one."
Evans leaned back, his back against the tree trunk, the corner of his mouth slowly curving up.
"An assessment, how could it lack the final battle part?"
On the second floor of the castle, in the Transfiguration classroom, the remaining ten young wizards had gathered together. There was no cat safe zone here; it belonged within the mist's range, but according to Farley's map, there was a seal fragment here.
"Percy, left side, fourth row, third square, and right side, fifth row, sixth square." Penelope calmly commanded, watching Percy use his wand to flip the blocks over.
Two Hippogriff images appeared in mid-air, then slowly disappeared.
There were two more identical puzzles around them. Professor Kahn's puzzles would increase in number based on the number of people solving them, but with more people, adding some puzzle quantity wouldn't increase the difficulty much.
Time slowly passed; several puzzles were broken in succession, leaving only a board floating lonely in front of Wood.
"They haven't come back yet?" Looking at that board, Wood asked anxiously.
"Should be soon?" Harry said uncertainly.
As soon as the words fell, hurried footsteps came from outside the door. A moment later, George and Fred rushed into the classroom holding a huge board.
"Found it, found it! The last piece!"
Wood waved his wand; the board in the two's hands floated up, falling next to the last board floating in mid-air, and then both boards flipped simultaneously.
Two identical Nifflers appeared in mid-air, then slowly dissipated.
A badge appeared on the ground. A moment later, a line of clear text appeared in mid-air.
Congratulations on obtaining the last seal fragment. Please proceed to the Great Hall to complete the final seal assembly.
Seeing that fragment that appeared on the ground, several young wizards obviously breathed a sigh of relief.
Their spirits were all already at their limits. If this fragment wasn't the last one, they might not be able to complete another puzzle in the mist.
Wiping the fine sweat from her forehead, Della looked at Gemma Farley beside her, showing a gentle smile.
"Gemma was amazing. Thanks to your map; without it, we might not have found this last fragment's puzzle so quickly."
"Hmph, what does the map being amazing have to do with me?" Proudly lifting her chin, Gemma said: "The Great Hall, it seems, is not far from the Transfiguration classroom?"
"Mm, let's go." Penelope nodded, first to leave the classroom.
Although mist covered everything around, the path from the Transfiguration classroom to the Great Hall, the young wizards present could walk it with their eyes closed.
After all, every grade's Transfiguration class was either the last class in the morning or the last class in the afternoon, and after class they had to go to the Great Hall to eat.
However, just as several people were about to reach the stairs leading to the Great Hall, a somewhat anxious little girl's voice appeared out of nowhere.
"Lion ahead! Big one blocking the stairs, meow!"
Stopping their steps, several people looked in surprise at the little black cat that had suddenly appeared on the ground, panting.
"This is..."
"It's my partner." Picking up the little black cat, Harry looked toward the mist ahead.
"Big lion, should be the Sphinx that Ron and they mentioned."
"What do you say?" Wood drew his wand. "We go have a fight with that Sphinx?"
"With our current mental state, I'm afraid it would be difficult to defeat a Sphinx." Percy analysed calmly.
"Yes, but going around to another staircase would take at least five minutes. Running in the mist for five minutes would also consume a lot of mental energy." Penelope's expression appeared extremely hesitant. She paused for a moment before speaking softly: "The best result would be someone leading away that Sphinx in front."
The surrounding students simultaneously fell into hesitation. Having walked to this point and obtained badges, they actually all already had the qualification to join the Magical Creatures Club. Who would want to give up this qualification to lead away that monster?
Hesitation flickering in his eyes, Harry slowly reached out, pulling a dark red stone from his pocket.
"I might have a way..."
But before he could finish speaking, the hand that pulled out the Philosopher's Stone was pressed back down.
"Don't, Harry." Pressing down Harry's hand that was preparing to crush the Philosopher's Stone, Cedric shook his head.
When he was with Harry earlier, he had already heard Harry explain this stone's effect. Dispelling an entire floor's mist and monsters. If used properly, it should be able to reduce a lot of difficulty.
"The seal isn't on this floor. Everyone's spirits are almost exhausted. If we crush it on this floor, when breaking the seal, if we encounter any trouble, we'll all be finished."
"Then what should we do?"
Harry's tone carried some disappointment, but just then, he suddenly felt something being stuffed into his hand.
He looked down in confusion, discovering in shock that there was an additional silver-white badge in his hand.
"Cedric?"
Harry raised his head, but that youth with grey eyes didn't explain anything. Instead, he walked to Della's side, placing the Bowtruckle in the senior student's arms.
"Please help me take care of it, senior. It's quite wary of strangers."
"Cedric, you..."
Seeing Della's somewhat worried expression, Cedric chuckled softly.
"Don't worry, senior." He smiled while pulling out a small item that looked like a talisman from his pocket, gently crushing it.
The talisman slowly crumbled, a clear breeze completely enveloping Cedric.
"Professor Kahn's talisman effect is very strong. I might not necessarily be eliminated."
"Maybe, in a while, I can come help you all?"
As the words fell, before others could react to what was happening, Cedric suddenly rushed to the end of the corridor at extremely fast speed, disappearing into the mist.
A few seconds later, a voice echoed in the corridor.
"Come on, big guy! Impedimenta!"
"Roar!"