Chapter 350: “Constant Vigilance”

"The Headmaster of the four magic schools and the carefully selected candidates for the competition will arrive one after another in October, and the ritual of selecting the champions will be held on Halloween."

"In addition to winning glory for the school, the winner will personally receive a prize of one thousand Galleons."

"But - only students over the age of seventeen will be allowed to sign up because the competition program is still difficult and dangerous - no matter how many precautions we take, students below the sixth grade and seventh grade are unlikely to be able to handle it."

"The group will be with us for most of this school year, and I hope you will behave in a warm and friendly manner to the very end. To form a better relation and understanding between every student, we have prepared some exchange activities ..."

Dumbledore ended the dinner amidst a controversial buzz, with the students full of complaints about that age restriction rule.

"Are we just supposed to watch?" Ron stomped hard on the stairs as he headed towards the common room.

Hermione said seriously: "This is to protect us from being in danger because of our reckless arrogance, you know the tournament was suspended due to the death of so many people in the past--"

Ron didn't even listen carefully, muttering in a small voice: "That's a thousand galleons." He looked at Fred and George, who were walking ahead of them and were discussing whether the Ageing Potion would work.

"I think a drop or two will be enough, we're not more than a few months away from adulthood, George ...," Fred mused seriously.

Ron said sourly, "There are still six months left, but I do hope they make it," he twisted his head to ask Harry: "What do you think? If Fred and George succeed, I mean, I wonder if the knowledge we've learned is enough ..."

Harry shook his head, shaking off the various glorious visions in his head, he already couldn't help but imagine he had deceived the age limit set by the Headmaster and won the Tournament of Champions, lifting the trophy amidst the cheers and shrieks of the crowd ...

"Yeah, I thought it would be nearly enough, too." Ron misunderstood Harry's bobbing head and thought he was responding to his question. He snapped his fingers, "Well, we do have dueling classes, study groups, and a magic runes club for that matter, though ..."

He said with some frustration, " We still can't compete with those sixth and seventh-year students, unless Professor Hap teaches us a powerful ancient magic in private, because we just can't hope to blind our opponents with illumination, can we?"

In this discussion about the competition, although Ron was the most talkative, but it was more similar to the emotional outburst of the teenager who was not able to get what he wanted, as he knew in his own heart that the possibility of being selected is unlikely, yet his words made Harry and Hermione on the side silent.

Harry thought of two images of Professor Hap casting a continuous apparition in front of him. One was in the forbidden forest in the second year, when they suspected that the new Professor Hap is related to the Chamber of Secrets, so they followed and discovered the scene of the professor practicing magic. It was shocking at the time, but Harry had pretty much forgotten about it after so long; the other time was at the Quidditch World Cup, just recently, and in a real live battle. Professor Hap had played with hundreds of rowdy wizards with the continuous apparition, and none could follow his movements with their eyes!

'What if I could do the same thing? I am not that bad in the first place, no students in the school can surpass me in the Disarming Charm now, plus the Continuous Apparition ...' Harry's heart became hot.

And Hermione thought of the ancient magic that the professor had taught her over the summer, golden flames leaped from her fingertips and turned into a sea of fire in the blink of an eye ... Of course, that was the effect demonstrated to her by the professor, she had yet to learn it on her own.

Hermione patted her head, what the hell was she thinking, and she would not attempt to break the age restriction.

On the other hand, in the great hall, the professors stayed behind.

Dumbledore and Moody were talking, and Moody answered gruffly, in a loud voice: "Yes, Arthur and the rest arrived just in time to scare off the sneak attackers by showing up early!"

Professor McGonagall looked at him in surprise: "You were attacked this morning?" It suddenly occurred to her that Moody had been in constant trouble since he retired, often suspecting dark wizards were assassinating him. Even if someone just walked along with him for a while, he would suddenly draw his wand against the other party and loudly question why he was stalking him.

This kind of thing happened not once or twice, for this reason, Moody was forced to leave the community and live in a remote place, which appears to be a muggle community.

Right now, McGonagall wondered if he might simply be being over-sensitive.

"How can it be false!" Moody yelled, "A bunch of scumbags, trying to sneak up on me while I'm sleeping, but who am I? I guarded against that for a long time, but those scum were really not that weak, they blocked me inside my house, and as a last resort, I blew up two garbage bins to attract attention."

He said in a thick voice, his false eyes darting around in his eye sockets, looking at people squarely in the eyes, a very few Professors looked at him.

"Did you get a good look at who it was, Alastor?" Dumbledore asked mildly.

"No, I'm old, Albus." Moody patted his fake leg and said reluctantly, "If only it had been a few years earlier ..."

At last, the line of sight between his two eyes came together in one place, and he looked at Felix, calmly: "I can only offer advice now, and use my past experience to put on a show."

Felix calmly looked back, while appeasing a somewhat agitated Niffler. It is his first time meeting Moody in person, after having heard of his famous, dazzling name.

It could be said that Alastor Moody had brought a large part of Barty Crouch's fame to fruition. He had been Crouch's sharpest sword, the best in the history of the Ministry of Magic, specializing in capturing dark wizards, and half of Azkaban's cells had been filled by him.

Just like the psychological shadow he left on a considerable number of dark wizards, he also left a strong personal mark on the Ministry of Magic's Auror office.

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Except that after a great deal of dangerous encounters, he became somewhat paranoid, if not overly paranoid, but that still didn't stop him from becoming an icon in the minds of most of the Aurors in the Ministry of Magic - the equivalent of St. Mungo's former dean Dorothea Bonham, if the analogy were to be made.

Of course, with his rude, grumpy, and tactless personality, he did offend many people, making it difficult for him to stay in the Ministry of Magic and hold a management position.

From tough, brave, tried and true Auror to now acutely sensitive as well as paranoid with a bit of neurosis ...

This is the image of "Mad-Eye" Moody that Felix perceived after a brief encounter. Oh, and there's his catchphrase - "Constant Vigilance!"

"Constant Vigilance!" Moody suddenly shouted, startling the rest. As he walked like nothing happened, and walked out of the great hall.

Felix looked at Dumbledore: "Headmaster, you just said that you prepared some exchange activities?"

"Ah, yes." Dumbledore had been listening quietly, now he seemed to have finally returned to his senses, and his pleasant gaze swept over the crowd, "That is why I have kept you behind."

He nodded slightly and said with a little thought face: "Ilvermorny and Uagadou were both participating in the Tournament for the first time, which makes ... them more enthusiastic like young people. They are not satisfied with having to spend almost a year just for the sake of this one tournament, the headmaster of Ilvermorny wants to bring students from different schools into closer contact."

"Exchange students?"

"It's close enough, Felix." Dumbledore nodded, "But this time it's one-sided, they want to observe Hogwarts classes, and beyond that-" he smiled, "I think they also have the intention of competing with the students of Hogwarts ."

The professors looked at each other, meaning that their classes would be open to students from other schools?

Professor McGonagall, as the Deputy Headmistress, thought of more about it, and she pursed her lips, her eyebrows furrowed, as she said solemnly, "Dumbledore, what you said about a competition, it wouldn't be - A Provocation! Right?"

Dumbledore shook his head slightly, his silver-white beard twitched for a moment, "There are many things that can be compared, not just physical power, and that's the worst option." He smiled and said, "I would rather like to maintain a welcoming attitude towards this, let the students see the outside world, and grow a little."

"I remember, seven or eight years ago, we also had contact with the Castelobruxo School of Magic, when many students from both sides had developed a deep friendship. Felix, you should have some recollection, right?" He asked with a smirk.

Felix bristled, "I don't have a pen pal from Brazil."

...

After the professors dispersed, Felix and Snape walked out of the great hall, as Snape's face turned grim, "You have to watch out for that guy, don't let him target you."

"You mean Professor Moody?" Felix asked with some curiosity, "He seems pretty decent--"

"That's a lunatic who could cast a curse at you at any time for unwarranted suspicion." Snape said coldly, "He has never walked out of it! To this day, he still passes every day as if it's a War Time!"

"I don't understand why Dumbledore brought him in, even another Lockhart would be better than him."

Snape waved his sleeve and strutted away.

Felix watched Snape's back, and further away, Moody was limping forward, but with Snape walking faster, they didn't bump into each other, and in the entrance hall, Snape stepped into the basement while Moody staggered up the stairs.

When he raised his arm, in addition to the curved flask at his waist, Felix keenly noted a wand that showed halfway up his sleeve, strapped right around his arm.

"Constant Vigilance? Quite a physical effort."

...

The next day.

The storm finally subsided and the rain subsided. Hogwarts ushered a new school year.

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