The Peregrine Falcon's gaze shifted, intently fixed on a spot in the forest. Transfiguration had granted it vision far superior to its usual.
Suddenly, it swooped down, wings tucked tight against its body, shooting from the sky like a silver arrow.
Among the dry leaves, a rat, previously perched on a branch, seemed to sense danger. Without looking up, it abruptly scurried down the sloping tree trunk.
Just as the Peregrine Falcon's talons were about to seize its back, the rat sharply twisted, leaping to the underside of the tree trunk!
Its attack thwarted, the Peregrine Falcon suddenly spread its wings, slowing its speed, circling, turning back, and then swooping towards the rat again!
The dusty gray rat had already darted into the bushes, moving with astonishing speed along the tree roots and grass. Its gray form was like a flash of lightning, agile and swift.
Suddenly, it darted into a narrow tree hollow, feeling the Peregrine Falcon's talons brush past the opening. A gust of wind stirred the dry leaves on the ground, and the sound of flapping wings seemed incredibly close.
The rat hid inside the hole, its heart pounding. It gasped for air for a long time before cautiously poking its head out, looking around.
There was no Peregrine Falcon nearby, nor any wizard.
The rat breathed a sigh of relief, scurried out of the tree hollow, and as it ran, its body quickly stretched, its limbs transformed, its long whiskers rapidly shortened, and finally, its skin became smooth and delicate, though very dark—so dark that in the night, his features were almost indistinguishable.
Having returned to human form, the young man no longer feared the Peregrine Falcon's pursuit. He looked up at the dark night sky, then quickly ran towards the large rock on the grassy field.
The Peregrine Falcon remained perched on a high branch. It watched the rat transform into Jabari Weaving from Uagadou, then observed the young man stealthily cross the grounds and slip into their rocky encampment.
The Peregrine Falcon turned its head and saw Karkaroff also emerge covertly from the Forbidden Forest, closely followed by the dark-skinned Headmaster Mando, who appeared from another direction.
A few minutes later, a palm-sized black cat also ran out of the forest. It didn't transform into a human, but it had something resembling a camera on its head.
Abby from Salem Institute stepped off the helicopter, bent down to pick up the black cat that had run to his feet, gently stroked the cat's chin, and then returned to the aircraft.
Even though the Dragon arena was far from the castle, such a commotion had clearly long attracted the attention of the Headmasters from various schools. They used their various abilities to gather information, none of them truly adhering to the rules.
The Peregrine Falcon didn't continue watching. It flew a wide circle along the edge of the Forbidden Forest, then, after circling back to the rear of the castle, chose a window and flew into the castle.
...
Sunday morning sunlight streamed through the Library windows, casting dappled light on the floor. Wade sat by the window, slowly turning the pages of Wizarding Level Exam Essentials: Basic Magic Compendium.
"We have to tell the others!" Harry paced beside him, saying worriedly, "This is a matter of life and death, Wade!"
Madam Pince's eagle-sharp gaze immediately swept towards their corner, but because Wade had cast a silencing Spell nearby, she didn't hear any extraneous sounds.
So the librarian frowned, stared at them for a moment, then turned her attention away.
"No need, just tell Cedric," Wade said, turning a page, not even looking up.
"But... what about the students from other schools?" Harry asked uneasily, "There are kids younger than us in there!"
"Harry," Wade looked up at him, handing him a note, and said, "Go find Madam Pince first and borrow these books."
"What?"
Harry took the parchment and saw that it listed titles related to Dragons, and immediately felt he understood.
Indeed, it was better to secure their own advantage first before alerting others.
He took the note and excitedly ran off to find the librarian.
...
"What? Magic in Dragon Lairs is gone?" Harry asked, looking incredulously at the stern-faced Madam Pince. "Then what about The Way of Taming Dragons?"
"I'm afraid that book is also gone," Madam Pince said.
"How is that possible?" Harry scratched his head, then looked down at the parchment. "Is Legends of Dragons still available?"
"No."
"What about Mysterious Powers of Magical Creatures?"
"That's gone too."
"Duel Between Wizards and Dragons? Alright, I know that's gone, but Flame and Scales must still be there, right?"
Madam Pince sighed, looking at him sympathetically, and said, "You came too late, Potter. The last copy of Flame and Scales was borrowed an hour ago."
"Can you tell me who borrowed it?" Harry asked urgently. "I really need it now!"
"Of course not, borrowing records are confidential," Madam Pince said stiffly.
Harry's shoulders slumped in disappointment, and he asked with a last shred of hope, "Are there really no Dragon-related books left?"
"There's one last one," Madam Pince said, as if performing a trick, pulling an old book from a cabinet. "A student just returned it ten minutes ago. Do you want to borrow it?"
Harry glanced at the title—The Dragon Doting Person.
He didn't even need to read the content to guess that the target audience for this book was definitely people like Hagrid. It would surely contain information on how to help Dragons hatch eggs, how to raise young Dragons, how to treat Dragons when they were sick or injured, and post-natal care for Dragon mothers.
But what could he do? This was the only Dragon-related book left.
Harry finally sighed and borrowed the book. Flipping open a random page, he saw written: "To magically clean a Dragon's teeth, you need to pay attention to the following points..."
...
"How is this possible? There's only this one Dragon-related book left in the Library!"
Harry sat beside Wade, his face full of disbelief, and placed the book on the table: "I don't want to know how to brush a Dragon's teeth at all! Who borrowed all the useful books?"
"The Champions from the other schools, of course," Wade said calmly. "I've been sitting here since the Library opened. While most people were still asleep, those guys had already borrowed all the books they could."
"Can one person really check out so many books at once?" Harry asked, puzzled. "Do Champions get special privileges?"
"No," Wade said. "Did you forget they still have plenty of classmates who weren't chosen?"
"Oh, right..." Harry paused, then suddenly realized, "So... the other schools already know?"
"Yes, probably only Cedric doesn't know about the Dragons in the first task," Wade repeated his earlier statement. "So you just need to tell him, and that'll be enough."
Cedric had always excelled in every aspect, but at this moment, Wade truly understood that the guy was indeed still a Hufflepuff.
The Champions had guidance from their own Headmasters, so they surely knew how to deal with Dragons, but they all simultaneously chose to borrow every Dragon book from the Hogwarts Library to weaken their opponents.
Wade, meanwhile, observed from a corner that was close to the entrance but still somewhat secluded, watching to see which schools' students came to borrow books.
As it turned out, besides the three from Hogwarts, students from all the other schools had already been there.
Harry was late to wake up this morning because he had been learning how to deal with Dragons with Sirius last night, and he hadn't thought to borrow books in time.
As for Cedric, he was truly clueless about it and was probably still guessing with his housemates what the first task of the competition would be.
"But..." Harry asked, still worried, "All the books are checked out. What do we do?"
What Sirius and Lupin could teach him, after all, wasn't as comprehensive or detailed as what was in books. Moreover, some Dragons only lived in specific regions, and those two elders weren't actually very familiar with them.
"Didn't I tell you?" Wade patted Harry's shoulder and said, "I knew Dragons had appeared in previous Triwizard Tournaments, so all the necessary information was collected long ago. All the books you want to borrow, I have them too."
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