Chapter 548 Granger Has Never Been a Nerd Who only Knows How to Memorize Books
Ben Nevis, outside a secluded forest.
The clearing next to the woods is not a good place to camp, especially since there is plenty of water nearby, suitable for mosquitoes to breed, and it happens to be summer, and all kinds of annoying mosquitoes buzz against the glowing campfires and oil lamps until McNeil is killed. His head hurt from the noise, and he threw a bag of potion residue wrapped in linen into the fire with an impatient expression.
Thick white smoke gradually filled the air, and the surrounding mosquitoes suddenly began to scurry down, and the camp finally became clear.
A smile appeared on McNeil's ugly face: "Barty, look, this thing is really easy to use. It's better than the potion that Lucius put in the tent. I heard that Severus learned it when he went to the African continent. Recipes, there are a lot of potions out there that work through smoke..."
Little Barty Crouch, who was busy in the open space next to him, looked intently at the neatly arranged wooden boards in front of him, thinking about how to piece together a large door key.
In order to prevent being touched or taken away by people other than the user, regular makers usually make door keys into inconspicuous old items or garbage, such as broken fish barrels, old boots, discarded leather jackets... But he wants to make it now The door key for transporting giants must be made large enough and strong enough. Considering that those giants have no brains, it must also be made conspicuous so that fools can see it at a glance.
Hearing him talking about Snape's potion, Crouch licked his chapped lips and asked in a deep voice: "Snape has been to Africa? When did he go? It was not included in the information he reported to the Dark Lord. Mentioned this journey..."
"Who knows?" McNeil chuckled twice. He knew that the Dark Lord's most loyal servant looked down on Snape because he was also favored. "There should be nothing worth reporting, like them This kind of potion master likes to look for materials and formulas in weird places."
Crouch glanced at his slightly offended look expressionlessly, raised his eyebrows, and lowered his gaze: "Whether it is worth reporting or not should be decided by the Dark Lord. I will report this matter when I return."
"you're right……"
McNeil agreed, he didn't want to participate in these messy fights. Compared with these people who were favored by the Dark Lord, he was just an insignificant servant.
Crouch was inexplicably agitated. Just when he was about to say something more, he suddenly heard the hoarse roar of a giant in the distance, and a group of sleeping birds flew up from the woods behind him.
"Something happened to that Gu Ge Gao Gaoma!"
The two Death Eaters looked at each other, waved their wands, and turned into two rolling black mists that rose into the air and flew toward the depression.
…
The sky in the late summer night generously sheds silver brilliance. The moonlight is bright and bright, so bright that you can clearly see the colors of the surrounding rocks and vegetation.
Seeing two figures dragging black mist across the sky, the two people sitting side by side stood up from the ground and patted the dirt off their bodies.
Since the troll incident on Halloween night in the first grade, the two have been persisting in dueling training. At first, it was simple offensive and defensive spells, and then gradually upgraded to the coordination between the control of combat rhythm and the spells. Later, Hogg Watts also offers related dueling courses, and the two's results are far higher than those of wizards of the same age. Before and after the Goblet of Fire, in the dueling classroom of the Book of Fantasy, they learned the concept of the transformation combat system...
After all, those are safe environments under the care of professors, and tonight is their duel practice.
Loren mobilized the gradually surging magic power in his body, and waved his wand upwards: "[Thunderbolt Pierce]"
Two crimson magic beams shot out, with a whistling sound that cut through the night sky, and rushed straight towards the figure in the black mist. The two black mist stopped suddenly in mid-air and staggered towards it somewhat awkwardly. They fell down in the direction where they were standing.
The two sides looked at each other thirty feet apart, wands in their hands, brewing a spell that was about to break out.
Loren raised his voice and laughed: "Long time no see, Moody... No, it should be Professor Crouch? Professor Crouch, we all thought you did a good job in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class last semester. Why did you suddenly resign?" Have you found a new job with better pay?”
"Loren Morgan, Hermione Granger?"
Barty Crouch Jr. recognized the two outstanding students and subconsciously scanned the surroundings, suspecting that others were ambush nearby. But standing high on the ridge, he had an unobstructed view of the leeward slopes below, and there was no place to hide anyone.
He breathed a sigh of relief and was a little panicked when he was attacked in a hurry. However, he realized that it was only two underage wizards who attacked him. A smile appeared on his lips, with undisguised cruelty: "Two despicable mudbloods, Dumbledore actually sent you to die, Defense Against the Dark Arts class? You no longer have to attend class, I will turn your corpse into two bones and bury it in the soil of Ben Nevis..."
"You are really not a presumptuous fellow. We greet you warmly. You actually want to treat your students like this. You have no sense of the Crouch family. What's going on? Professor Crouch, don't you have a father to teach you etiquette? ?”
Loren's long-winded shouts echoed in the empty mountains, and the expression on the face opposite him became even more ugly.
"Ah, I forgot, your biological father was murdered by you, leaving only a shapeless piece of rotten flesh, and you have a new father, and that new father probably won't teach you any manners. and politeness…”
Now even Hermione beside him couldn't help but glance at him.
Is this the provoking of emotions and psychological suppression in dueling courses?
Learned, learned...
Barty Crouch Jr.'s face became more and more gloomy. He licked his lips and squeezed out a cold voice from his throat: "I changed my mind. Before killing you, I will torture you with the Cruciatus Curse until the sun rises, so that you can understand what grace is!"
Walton McNeill, who was standing next to him, rolled his eyes and quietly raised his wand to aim at the little witch not far away. A charming red light spot floated.
As a key member of the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Animals, his daily job is to chop off the heads of those beasts with an axe. His colleagues in the Ministry of Magic are used to calling him a skilled executioner, a cruel butcher, or other names that represent his cruelty. McNeill did not refuse, but enjoyed these names because he loved this job.
Many years ago, the annoying Scamander had not retired and lived in seclusion. Under his influence, the probability of the death penalty in the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Animals was less than one-quarter. Fortunately, through his efforts in recent years, he has gradually changed this phenomenon. Now most of the cases handed over to the committee will be sentenced to death.
As he tortured more and more animals and chopped off more and more heads, McNeill found that he was becoming more and more proficient in the Unforgivable Curse...
McNeill opened his eyes excitedly. When he thought of the young life not far away that was about to groan and wail under his spell, his breathing could not help but be a little rapid:
"[Cruel]"
The red beam of light emitting strong malice rushed towards the witch on the right, directly hitting an invisible magic shield, making a metallic trembling sound.
The bright red light stimulated by the Cruciatus Curse was reflected in Hermione's beautiful eyes, bright and dazzling like a high-hanging galaxy. The magic power contained in the beam was constantly consumed by the Armor Curse, blooming with brilliant brilliance until the magic power was exhausted and disappeared silently.
Loren turned his head to look at the little witch, a little dissatisfied: "Why didn't it bounce back?"
"The Unforgivable Curse is different from other spells, so I want to be safe..." Hermione calmed her breathing, her eyes bright, and looked at McNeill confidently, and the nervousness in her heart disappeared.
Crouch originally blamed McNeill for taking action without authorization and robbing him of the fun of hunting, but when he suddenly saw that the little witch was able to resist the sneak attack of the Cruciatus Curse in a hurry, he was a little suspicious.
Looking at McNeill, who was also surprised and wide-eyed, Crouch frowned and reminded: "Be careful, she is the first in the grade, and her duel strength is no worse than that of ordinary adult wizards."
"Got it." McNeill suppressed his excited desire to kill.
The four people looked at each other, tacitly divided their opponents, walked to both sides, and slowly separated.
"【Heart-piercing】"
The Cruciatus Curse sounded the whistle of this four-person battle. For a time, the gorgeous magic light intertwined on this leeward slope. The powerful spell bombarded the rocky soil, and the dust splashed. The dull roar and the rhythmic hammering sound of the cave not far away echoed each other, mixing into a noisy symphony.
Hermione has fought many times, but none of them were head-on duels with wizards.
Four years ago, in the abandoned bathroom of Hogwarts, the little witch once used a fire spell to drive back the troll.
Under the withered vines of the Devil's Snare in the underground passage of the castle, the first-year little witch once wielded the Gryffindor sword and cut off Voldemort's thoughts of seizing the Philosopher's Stone.
Hermione Granger is not a nerdy know-it-all who only knows how to read. She has always been the dominant party in duel practice with the warriors of Hogwarts and Ilvermorny before and after the Goblet of Fire last year.
The sinister McNeill did not pay much attention to the witch who ranked first in the grade at the opposite side at first. She was just a mudblood witch who had just finished the fourth grade and had not yet entered the fifth grade. Not to mention that she was a senior Death Eater and Executioner, even the novice staff who had just joined this year could kill the little witch quickly. However, when the spells from the opposite side were poured densely and the offensive was endless, almost exhausting him to deal with, McNeill's heart gradually sank.
However, wizards' duels never rely solely on skills. He did not believe that an underage witch could defeat his decades of experience and magic!
"They are all dying struggles, just like those animals facing execution, which will only make their death more painful!" McNeill sneered and taunted, dodging the opponent's spells and releasing his tricky Unforgivable Curses again and again.
The clever and strong Armor Curse on the opposite side can be successfully blocked every time.
Hermione stood sideways thirty feet away, and her right hand kept handing out the wand like fencing, sometimes launching insignificant attack spells, and sometimes resisting spells from various angles.
The rebound of the Armor Curse requires precise control of magic and direction. Not everyone has a pair of magical eyes like Loren. Hermione can only rely on her own mind. As the touch of the Cruciatus Curse bombarding the Armor Curse became more and more familiar, her control of direction and magic gradually became clearer.
"Slanting upwards..."
"Slanting downwards..."
"Directly in front of..."
"Just a little bit - I found it!"
Hermione's eyes shone with brilliant brilliance, her lips moved and she chanted the Armored Charm aloud, holding the wand in her right hand and waving it upwards, the magic power condensed along the vine wood wand to form a slightly tilted transparent shield at the tip of the wand, and collided head-on with the whistling Cruciatus Curse.
With a crisp ding, the invisible transparent shield flashed.
The powerful Cruciatus Curse paused for a moment, then flew back at the same speed and hit the executioner's chest.
McNeill's pupils contracted violently. This was the first time he faced the Cruciatus Curse he had released. The strong malice rushed towards him, as if a pair of invisible hands went through his mouth and nose into his chest and pinched his heart. His breathing could not help but stagnate.
Abundant experience guided his body to react almost instinctively. McNeill bent down and rolled on the ground, barely avoiding the Cruciatus Curse he had released with an almost embarrassed posture.
Watching the red light fall on an unnamed herb, the originally green leaves instantly turned yellow and dehydrated. McNeill, who had climbed up from the ground, had a layer of cold sweat on his back, and his heart rumbled against his ribs, almost jumping out of his chest.
This is a fourth-grade underage wizard! ?
Enduring the faint pain in his temples and the dizziness that kept coming up in his mind, McNeill looked back at the little witch with a tight face, and couldn't help cursing in his heart.
Hermione held her wand and secretly regretted that she forgot to cast a spell while he was dodging. She didn't know if Loren saw it, and he might scold her again later.
Without taking advantage of the opportunity to pursue, McNeill slowly calmed his heartbeat through breathing, suppressed the strong discomfort from his body and mind, and he was eager to say something to intimidate the other party and cheer himself up.
McNeill was about to speak when Hermione swiftly waved her wand: "【Fire all the bullets】"
Grains of gravel floated up from the ground and shot out at a distance of several feet from the ground, with a sharp sound of breaking wind.
McNeill had no doubt that these stones could penetrate his flesh and even break his bones. He took a big step to the left, dodged the stones and waved his wand to fight back. Just as he recited the almost instinctive Cruciatus Curse, the words turned around at his lips and changed to a safer Stunning Curse.
Hermione looked at the spell that was a few seconds slower than expected, and a smile appeared on her lips.
He hesitated, and hesitation meant that his concentration decreased, his casting speed slowed down, and his vigilance decreased...
He summoned the transparent magic shield again to bounce back the stun spell, blasting several rocks under McNeill's feet thirty feet away.
McNeill dodged his own spell with a solemn expression. The hesitation and indecision made the strong malice in his heart no longer firm, but he did not notice the abnormality on the ground around him. The gravel that he had just dodged had gathered nearby and was shaking slightly.