After HP shared the dream, Lao Fu was conquered by me

Chapter 255: Competition (2)

As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt a burning panic pass through his heart, but he didn't say it. He and Hermione rarely talked about what the first competition would be, and he always felt that she was reluctant to consider it.

"She's gone," Hermione said, looking through Harry's eyes down the street. "How about we go to the Three Broomsticks for a Butterbeer? It's getting a bit chilly, isn't it? You don't need to talk to Ron!" She said irritably, guessing why he was silent.

The Three Broomsticks was packed with people, mainly Hogwarts students, enjoying their afternoon of freedom, but there were also many different kinds of wizarding people, people Harry rarely encountered elsewhere.

Harry supposed that Hogsmeade, being the only purely wizarding village in Britain, was a safe haven for creatures like banshees, who were not as adept at disguising themselves as wizards.

It is very difficult to move through a crowd wearing an invisibility cloak. You might accidentally step on someone's foot and cause embarrassing trouble.

Hermione went to get some drinks, and Harry sidled up and inched his way towards an empty table in the corner.

Harry was walking through the pub when he saw Ron sitting with Fred, George, and Lee Jordan. He wanted to punch Ron in the back of the head, but he resisted the urge and finally went over to the table and sat down.

A moment later, Hermione joined him and slipped him a glass of Butterbeer from beneath her Invisibility Cloak.

"I feel like a fool, sitting here all alone," she murmured. "It's a good thing I brought some work with me."

Harry saw that at the top of the pitifully short list were his and Ron's names.

He thought back to the night he and Ron had sat together making up those prophecies when Hermione had suddenly appeared and appointed them secretary and treasurer. It all seemed so long ago.

"By the way, these villagers seem... never mind," Hermione said thoughtfully, looking around the tavern.

"Yeah, they're really nice people," said Harry, taking a swig of his Butterbeer under his Invisibility Cloak.

"When the house-elves get decent wages and decent working conditions!" she said in a low voice. "I think we should take some more direct action. I don't know how to get into the school kitchen."

"I don't know, ask Fred and George," said Harry.

Hermione fell back into thought, while Harry sipped his butterbeer and surveyed the people in the pub, who all seemed relaxed and cheerful.

Ernie Macmillan and Hannah Abbott, both wearing Cedric Diggory support badges on their robes, were exchanging Chocolate Frog cards with people at the next table.

Right by the door, Lamia also saw Qiu Zhang, the Ravenclaw girl who was particularly supportive of Cedric. She seemed to have seen Lamia as well.

Lamia smiled and looked up to see Hagrid's huge, unkempt head looming in the crowd—thank God, he no longer had his hair tied in a ponytail.

Lamia wondered why she hadn't seen Hagrid, who was so big, just now.

When he stood up carefully, he found that Hagrid was lowering his body and talking to Professor Moody. In front of Hagrid was his usual large glass of beer, while Moody was drinking from the curved bottle he carried with him.

The beautiful proprietress Mrs. Rosmerta seemed dissatisfied with this. She glanced sideways at Moody while clearing away the glasses on the table next to her.

She probably thought the warm mead was an insult to her, but Lamia knew otherwise. In their most recent Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Moody had told them that he always preferred to prepare his own food and drink because it was so easy for a Dark wizard to poison an unattended cup.

As Harry watched them, Hagrid and Moody stood up and started to leave.

Harry waved, then remembered that there was no way Hagrid could see him, but Moody paused, his one magical eye fixed on the corner where Harry was.

He patted Hagrid on the small of the back and muttered something to him under his breath, and then they both turned and walked towards Harry and Hermione's table.

"How's it going, Hermione?" Hagrid called out.

"Hello." Hermione also said with a smile.

Moody limped around the table and leaned over. Harry thought he was looking at the beer on the table, but he didn't expect him to whisper, "The Invisibility Cloak is great, Potter."

Harry was stunned. The large missing piece of Moody's nose was now clearly visible from a few inches away. Moody grinned.

"Can your eyes—I mean, can you—"

"Yes, it can see through the invisibility cloak," Moody whispered. "It works sometimes, I can tell you."

Hagrid was smiling down at Harry too. Harry knew Hagrid couldn't see him, but Moody had evidently told Hagrid he was there.

Hagrid leaned over, pretending to read his notebook, and said in a very low voice, so that only Harry could hear, "Harry, meet me in my cabin at twelve o'clock tonight. Wear the Invisibility Cloak."

Hagrid straightened up and called out, "Nice to meet you, Hermione." He winked and walked away, Moody following him.

"Why did Hagrid ask me to find him in the middle of the night?" Harry said very surprised.

"Really?" said Hermione, also looking surprised. "I don't understand what he's trying to do. I don't know if you should go, Harry..." She glanced around nervously and said in a low voice, "You might be late for Sirius."

Indeed, going down to see Hagrid at midnight meant that he had to stick to a tight schedule so as not to miss his meeting with Sirius.

Hermione suggested sending Hedwig with a letter to Hagrid telling him that Harry couldn't go - assuming, of course, that Hedwig agreed to send the letter - but Harry thought it would be better to hurry and get rid of whatever Hagrid wanted him to do. She was very curious to know what was going on.

Hagrid had never asked Harry to come over so late before.

At half past eleven that night, Harry, who had pretended to go to bed early, put on his invisibility cloak and quietly walked through the common room downstairs.

There were a few other people in the common room. The Creevey brothers had somehow gotten a stack of badges supporting Cedric Diggory and were trying to use magic to change the words on them to support Harry Potter.

However, with all their effort, all they could manage was to get the badge fixed to Potter's stinking turd. Harry crept past them to the portrait hole and waited a minute or so, his eye on his watch.

Then, as planned, Hermione opened the Fat Lady's portrait for him from the outside, and Harry murmured a "Thank you!" before slipping past her and setting off across the castle.