Hermione thought she had prepared herself mentally before coming, but when she actually saw the fire dragon, the calmness she expected seemed to be grasped into the girl's clasped palms, and she could only let the gap left behind be filled with tension.
Full.
"Why do they look...not the same as Nobetta..."
The little witch pursed her lips tightly. After seeing those ferocious big guys, the mental preparation she had just done seemed to disappear in an instant.
"Don't be nervous. These fire dragons just look bluffing. In fact, they were raised in a semi-captive state and are much easier to deal with than wild ones."
Ani held the girl's slightly trembling shoulders and tried to make her tone calmer.
"But they look really fierce...I'm a little scared...Ani~"
Hermione grabbed the man's robe next to her with both hands. She couldn't think of any difference between facing a wild or domesticated fire dragon for a school student.
Is there any difference between how full you are?
"Don't worry, I will be on the sidelines when you challenge, no problem."
Seeing Hermione frowning and looking frightened and pitiful, Ani couldn't help but feel happy, and stretched out his hand to scratch the girl's wrinkled nose.
"OK……"
Her trust in Aini made Hermione feel more at ease, but then she heard a roar from the distance——
"Stay there, Hagrid!"
A strong wizard holding a chain shouted in the other direction. Because the fire dragon kept roaring restlessly, he had to roar loudly to make others hear his words.
"That's Hagrid, and...that's Madame Maxime!"
Following the direction of the call, the girl saw two giants. In comparison, the dragon tamer, who had just felt so strong just now, looked like a child.
The big man was wearing the suit that Aini had chosen for him. He pointed at the fire dragon and turned around to say something to his female companion. From the look on his face, it seemed that she was listening very seriously.
Just when Aini was happy that his friend had finally figured it out, he saw that Hagrid was paying more and more attention to the fire dragon. Finally, he took advantage of the moment when the dragon trainer was busy dealing with those little guys, and stepped over it step by step.
Mrs. Maxim opened her mouth to call several times, but at this time, perhaps only the roar of the fire dragon could reach Hagrid's heart.
"Well……"
Aini covered her face, okay, it turns out that Hagrid and Dragon are true love.
"whee."
Hermione was no longer an ignorant girl who didn't understand anything anymore, and she couldn't help but chuckle when she saw this.
"Don't you also like fire dragons? Why don't you go and have a look?"
Distracted by Hagrid's stunned look, Hermione found that she wasn't so nervous anymore.
"Wait until you pass the first level, otherwise it will be difficult for Dumbledore to explain."
Ani stretched out his hand to the ground and said, "If these fire dragons become familiar with my scent, they will all be like good babies when you come on stage, and the other two schools will definitely make trouble. Let's go back to sleep.
.”
Hermione glanced at the bulging tree roots at her feet in a strange way, and followed Ani quietly without asking any questions.
"Ah... bah, bah bah."
Before the two of them had gone far, they heard an exclamation from where they were just now, followed by a series of bah sounds.
"Who!? Who is there!"
The sturdy wizard turned around and shouted, and the few people who finally let the fire dragon fall asleep formed an arc and surrounded it.
Karkaroff cursed secretly and disappeared into the darkness behind him.
"Let's go, it has nothing to do with us."
Ani patted the girl's curious little head and sent her back to the castle.
…
"Hey, isn't this Karkaroff who 'suddenly awakened'? Why does he look so embarrassed?"
The sudden frivolous words stopped Karkaroff's progress. He quickly pointed his wand at the big tree beside him. There was a figure there that almost overlapped with the tree.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, is this your attitude towards your companions? Karkaroff? Or do you want to betray again?"
The black shadow took a step forward, revealing an extraordinarily white face in the moonlight.
"Young man, when I was working for my master, you could only ride a toy broom and glide on the ground. How dare you question my loyalty to my master!"
Karkaroff's tone was harsh, but his eyes were full of fear.
"Oh hoohoo, of course there is no doubt about your loyalty to the master. Dolohov, Rozier, Rookwood and I all think so."
The visitor confirmed Karkaroff's statement in words, but after hearing this, the headmaster of Durmstrang suddenly froze and felt a chill.
Those people were all on the list Karkaroff handed over to the Ministry of Magic.
"Click~"
The joints of Karkaroff's hands turned white from the clenching, "You took the risk to come here, didn't you just to ridicule me?"
"Oh oh oh, how can you say it's ironic? Everyone is very optimistic about you~"
After another yin and yang, the visitor seemed to have suddenly lost interest in teasing Karkaroff, and his voice became serious, "Master tells you not to do unnecessary things on your own initiative, just wait for orders honestly."
"That's it?"
Karkaroff asked calmly, but his heart was already in turmoil.
He knew that he was unpopular in the organization, and when Voldemort found him, Karkaroff began to recall his life.
Who would have thought that the Dark Lord, who was always known for his retribution and ruthlessness, did not punish him in any way, but only told Karkaroff to facilitate the holding of the Triwizard Tournament.
After that, it was as if he had forgotten about him and ignored him.
This made Karkaroff extremely uneasy. He knew that Voldemort kept him because he was still useful.
But Karkaroff really couldn't figure out where Voldemort would use him or what he would do.
So he wanted to make some achievements, such as bringing the boy who had allowed Voldemort to hide for more than ten years before him.
But it was just an idea. Not only had he not told anyone about it, but he had not yet put it into action, but he waited for Voldemort's warning.
Is this just a coincidence, or...
After thinking about this, Karkaroff felt even colder and quickly stopped his thoughts.
Unable to speak, act, or even think, he once again found the feeling he had when he was under Voldemort's command, walking on thin ice with trepidation.
He just paused for a moment, and when Karkaroff wanted to continue asking a few questions, he found that the other party had disappeared, and there was only a low shrub in front of the big tree.
At this point, Karkaroff had no intention of checking out the fire dragon. He tucked up his collar and hurriedly walked around in a circle before sneaking back to the ship.
Quietness returned to the place, and it seemed that there was nothing else except the breathing of the fire dragon in the distance.
It wasn't until more than half an hour later that the dark figure appeared again among the swaying trees.
"Illusion?"
The figure of the visitor disappeared again, but he didn't know that as early as Karkaroff left, a small brown-skinned mouse ran away along the underground passage.