The Magical School Potion Championship was originally a competition initiated by four renowned magical schools.
The participating schools included Hogwarts from Britain, Koldovstoretz from Russia, Mahoutokoro from Japan, and Uagadou from Uganda.
The purpose of this competition is to cultivate and showcase the talents of young Wizards in the field of Potion-making, while also providing a platform for Potion education in various magical schools to learn from and exchange ideas with each other.
The competition takes various forms, requiring contestants to demonstrate their mastery of Potion recipes, their techniques for handling various Potion ingredients, and their exquisite brewing skills.
The winning school will receive a special trophy symbolizing glory—the golden cauldron.
This trophy not only symbolizes excellence in Potion-making but also represents the winning school's academic influence throughout the Wizarding World.
As time went on, the Potion Championship attracted more and more magical schools to participate, and its scale gradually expanded, no longer limited to the original four schools.
Today, magical schools from all over the world have joined this event, making the competition more intense and diverse.
The competition's frequency also changed from once every seven years to once every three years.
Compared to the International Wizard Chess Tournament, Hogwarts clearly placed more importance on the upcoming Potion Championship.
As one of the founding schools of the competition, Hogwarts had not sent students to participate in the past few competitions, which was not a glorious matter.
Therefore, in order to achieve good results in this competition, the school began relevant preparations as early as after the Christmas holidays.
Hogwarts' PotionProfessors, led by Professor Snape, formed a Potion competition team.
They recruited some students who performed brilliantly in Potion Class and then arranged intensive specialized training for them.
These students not only strengthened their Potion brewing practice in class but also delved into complex Potion recipes and explored innovative Potion-making methods in their free time.
For this competition, Hogwarts prepared to send two Professors as team leaders: Sebastian, who is responsible for external relations, and Professor Snape, who is responsible for Potion guidance.
Fortunately, Hogwarts now has enough Professors to cover their classes after they leave.
Otherwise, if Sebastian and Professor Snape left, Muggle Studies Class and Potion Class would directly shut down.
A week before the competition, Sebastian found Professor Snape to discuss the final selection of participants.
After all, the number of participants was limited, and they had to select the five most outstanding students to represent Hogwarts.
Looking at the list Professor Snape handed over, Sebastian frowned slightly.
"Harry, Cedric, Percy, Penelope, I know all these students; they are all excellent."
"However, what's with Theodore Nott? I remember he's only in third year, just like Harry, right? Is he that good?"
Professor Snape said indifferently, "Don't underestimate this student; among these students, he is the most spiritually gifted in Potion-making."
"I can see that he loves Potion-making more than anyone else and spends more time on it than others."
"He will definitely succeed in Potion-making."
Such high praise?
It's not easy for Professor Snape to give such a high evaluation to a student.
Sebastian still had some impression of Theodore.
Currently, Slytherin students are roughly divided into three categories. About 80% of students, like Malfoy, have gradually put aside their prejudices against other houses and started making friends with students from other houses in a shrewd and sophisticated manner.
About 10% of students still stubbornly adhere to the pure-blood supremacy ideology.
The remaining 10% are like Theodore; they are arrogant, reclusive, and equally look down on everyone.
Now it seems the reason for this kid's arrogance has been found: it turns out he has a special skill, no wonder he always looks so haughty.
In that case, this kid really resembles Professor Snape when he was young, no wonder Professor Snape favors him so much.
After confirming the participants, the two began to discuss the choice of travel method.
The competition venue is at Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the United States. To travel to the other side of the Earth, Apparition alone is not enough.
Normally, such international travel requires going to the Ministry of Magic to use a special Portkey.
However, Sebastian had different considerations.
He wanted to take this opportunity to let the students see the development of the Muggle world and broaden their horizons.
So, he decided to take the students by plane across the ocean.
Students and Professor Snape don't have passports?!
This was no problem for Sebastian at all.
Through his connections as a councilor, he used a green channel and managed to get all the documents processed in just two days.
As for the Wizarding World's outbound procedures, they were even simpler.
Sebastian sent a letter, and Delores came directly to Hogwarts to personally handle all the procedures for everyone.
It was Friday afternoon. After dinner, Harry and the others changed into Muggle clothes, brought their packed luggage, and gathered in front of the Great Hall.
The teachers and students of Hogwarts came to see them off.
Cedric stood in front of Professor Sprout, obediently listening to her instructions, while other HufflepuffLittle Wizards gathered around to cheer him on.
Penelope bid farewell to Professor Flitwick, who was grinning, looking proud.
Percy was not idle either; he stood among the Gryffindor crowd, grabbing his younger brothers and telling them not to slack off in their studies.
Theodore was an anomaly; he stood alone, like a lone wolf.
Harry looked helpless, listening to his two little friends bickering.
"Potter," Malfoy said with regret, "It's a shame, tomorrow is the day of this school year's dueling competition."
"Without you there, winning the championship would be too unchallenging for me."
"When you get the golden cauldron, we'll have a decisive duel privately."
"Oh, come on, Malfoy," Ron said, unconvinced, "With me around, you won't easily win the championship."
"You?" Malfoy shook his head disdainfully, "You're still far from it; you can't even consistently beat Longbottom now."
"Hmph, we'll see..."
Sebastian stood aside, exchanging private words with Mia before their departure.
However, he had some questions in his mind.
What's going on? Old Dumbledore, Professor Snape, and Professor McGonagall all didn't show up at dinner.
Old Dumbledore, that guy, is too out of line; as the Principal, he doesn't even know to come out and encourage the students.
Professor Snape's absence is understandable; he's probably agonizing over which Muggle clothes to wear.
What about Professor McGonagall?
Why didn't she come to see the students off? That's not like her.
Could it be that she's too tired?
Never mind, Professor McGonagall is always too busy; it's good for her to rest. I'll just help her share more of her work in the future.
Just as Sebastian was lost in thought, the students erupted in a commotion.
"Oh my god, is that really Professor Snape?"
...
...
.
Alas, Professor Cat left us completely yesterday.
Sad!
No mood to type, I want to rewatch the movie again, to see her shout "attention please" again, to see her use the spell "Piertotum Locomotor" again.
Good night, Professor McGonagall~