Chapter 156 Life Is Like Chess

December brings high winds and sleet to Hogwarts.

Although there is always draft in the castle in winter, when the little wizards see Durmstrang's ghost ship parked on the lake, they will feel lucky for the hot fire and thick walls in the castle. The big ship tossed and swayed in the strong wind, and its black sails fluttered and danced in the dark night sky.

Beauxbatons' carriage was in a similar situation, always being rattled by the strong wind. Those majestic rune horses were covered with thick blankets, and Hagrid constantly provided them with single malt whiskey. The smell of alcohol drifted from the feed trough in the corner of the stable, making the students in the Care of Magical Creatures class feel a little dizzy. This isn't good for the students, because caring for the fearsome Blast-Ended Skrewts requires constant vigilance.

Now there are only ten Blast-Ended Skrewts left. Apparently, their desire to kill each other has not been completely eradicated. Today they are nearly six feet long each. Their thick gray protective coating, their powerful swinging legs, their exploding, fire-breathing tails, and their stingers and suckers all combine to make the Blast-Ended Skrewt one of the most awesome things anyone has ever seen. Disgusting stuff. The students looked listlessly at the big box Hagrid brought out, which was filled with pillows and fluffy blankets.

Hagrid put the Blast-Ended Skrewts into the box and closed the lid to see if they would hibernate. The result was that he was wrong, and very wrong.

Apparently, snails don't hibernate, and they don't like being crammed into cramped boxes. Several explosions rang out, and the ground was already strewn with smokey box fragments. The snails escaped and ran rampant in the pumpkin patch.

Draco and Blaise curled their lips and turned to leave, unwilling to pay attention to this boring farce. Goyle and Crabbe also left as qualified followers.

Harry, Ron and Hermione led a group of Gryffindor wizards, spraying sparks from their wands to try to drive the blast-ended skrews back.

The remaining Slytherin wizards learned from the previous experience and learned the lesson this time. They spontaneously gathered behind Xie Lin, intending to rely on Xie Lin's leadership to deal with the situation in front of them.

What? What if Xie Lin can't handle it? Are you kidding me? A wizard who treats a dragon like a puppy can't handle a lobster with its butt on fire?

Schelling's eyes swept over Pansy, Millicent, Tracy, and Audrey one by one, and then stayed on Theodore Nott for a while. His deep eyes became meaningful, and he seemed to have something to say. He asked: "Has everyone made a decision?"

"Yeah," Pansy and the three girls looked at each other and took the lead in responding.

The corners of Xie Lin's mouth raised slightly, "Then, now listen to my command. I will first use the obstacle spell to restrain them. After I count one, two, and three, you will use the stun spell to stun them at the same time. Remember - Don’t bombard the shells, the males attack their spines and mouths, the females their suckers.”

Schelling did not cast a barrier spell. He was worried that the barrier spell would not be enough to penetrate the shell of the snails. He quickly waved his wand, conjuring thick vines one after another, and tied up the five snails layer by layer. Just when the squid tried to struggle and started to spray sparks from under its tail, Xie Lin shouted coldly: "One, two, three, do it!"

The little wizards did not disappoint Xie Lin. They hit the weakness mentioned by Xie Lin cleanly and knocked out all five Blast-Ended Skrewts.

At this time, the little wizards of Gryffindor, with the help of Hagrid, had just sorted out the first one.

Rita Skeeter leaned against the fence of Hagrid's garden and watched the drama. Today she was wearing a thick magenta robe with a purple suede collar, and the crocodile leather handbag hung on her arm.

"Who are you?" Hagrid asked Rita Skeeter as he put a rope buckle on the blaster's spine and tightened it.

"My name is Rita Skeeter, a reporter for the Daily Prophet." Rita replied, looking at Hagrid with a smile on her face, her gold teeth shining in her mouth. "What are these charming animals called?" she asked, her smile widening.

"Blast-tailed skrewts," Hagrid replied gruffly.

"Really?" Rita said, looking interested. "I've never heard of that before...where did they get them?"

Hagrid's face turned red behind his unkempt black beard. At this moment, the clever Hermione stood up and said: "They are interesting, aren't they? You tell me, Harry, aren't they?"

"What? Oh, yeah... Ouch... that's interesting." Harry faltered after being stepped on by her.

She was looking over at Dean (who had an ugly gash on half his cheek), Lavender (a chunk of her robe was singed), and Seamus (who was nursing several burned fingers). , seeming to see something, she smiled and said: "Great... I wonder if you would like to be interviewed, huh? Share your experience in teaching the protection of magical animals with readers? "Daily Prophet" every day There's a zoology column on Wednesday, and I thought you'd know that we could introduce these - um - rattlewolves."

"Blast-ended skrewts," Hagrid said eagerly, "Uh-yeah, that's okay."

The two finally arranged to meet at the Three Broomsticks on Friday so that Hagrid could be interviewed by Rita.

"What's wrong?" Daphne looked at Xie Lin, because Slytherin had already taken care of the blast-ended skrewts, and the other little wizards had left, but Xie Lin still stayed there, looking at Rita and the sea from a distance. interactions between grids.

Xellin smiled slightly and said, "Nothing, I just think the old man with white beard will be in trouble again soon." Xielin thought about Hagrid's subsequent development. Although he found it funny, he also felt a little sympathy for Dumbledore. How could his confidants be so troublesome?

Daphne approached Sherin. Although there was no one around, she still cautiously released the ear-clogging spell around her, and then whispered in a low voice that only the two of them could hear: "What's wrong with Pansy's group?"

Sherin shrugged, "What else can it be? It's nothing more than trying to be nice to me."

"But," Daphne showed a puzzled look, "Isn't she very close to your brother?"

Sherin sneered, "After I showed my ability to tame dragons, the personal honor and disgrace of them - whether it's Pansy, Millicent, Audrey, or Tracy, is no longer important. The interests of their families are their primary considerations. I dare say that their statements today are actually the intentions of those old guys behind their backs."

Since the beginning of this semester, Sherin has been busy with the Sleeping Dragon Society, the Goblet of Fire, and studying various magics. He is indeed a little alienated from the Slytherin wizards of the same class. He really has no choice. His time is limited and it is impossible for him to be comprehensive.

And the brother who made him feel a little strange did not disappoint him. Taking advantage of this gap, he established his prestige among his classmates through excellent performance in class and other frequent friendly exchanges.

Pansy had been close to him for a long time, needless to say; Goyle and Crabbe had always been his loyal followers, and it was the same. Among the other little wizards, Blaise seemed to be very close to Draco suddenly. Millicent, Audrey, and Tracy's enthusiasm and admiration for Draco became more and more obvious. The latter two were originally fans of Sherin, and both of them suddenly became fans of Draco.

Sherin knew it all, but he chose to turn a blind eye.

Because he knew that life is like chess, the way is simple, and one wrong move will lead to a complete loss.

No matter how Draco planned and laid out before, no matter how Draco pressed forward step by step before, the moment Sherin defeated Draco and was selected as a Hogwarts warrior, the battle for fame between the two brothers had been decided.

After Sherin won the first event, even Pansy understood that Sherin was already in the lead, not to mention the other three girls who were not so close to Draco. Even if they favored Draco because of personal feelings, these girls from wealthy and aristocratic families had to consider the families behind them. They knew that their words and deeds could represent their families, and the families could not let them do whatever they wanted.

Draco, or the person behind Draco, as long as he was not too stupid, as long as he was still thinking about the Malfoy family as Sherin thought, he would not be unaware of this - he had no chance of turning the tables.

Brother, brother, I had already made a move in the real chess game in the first grade. No matter how your strength has skyrocketed in just one summer vacation, unless you kill me, you can only be a chess piece after all -

A real chess player, I think you will appear soon, right?

To be honest, I also have some expectations...

"By the way," Daphne asked solemnly, "Do you know what happened to Draco?"

"Well," when it comes to Draco, Xie Lin's expression also became solemn at this moment, "I already have an immature guess in my mind..." He then smiled with a wise smile and said, "I think I will soon know whether my guess is right..."

Even though Daphne has almost blind confidence in Xie Lin, she can't help but show a trace of worry, "Are you really okay like this?"

"Don't worry!" Xie Lin raised his head slightly and looked into the distance, "I don't fight a battle without confidence, and-"

"I believe in Draco, he is my brother!"