Inside the Hogwarts Hospital Wing, the air was filled with a rich scent of Dittany Essence, and an invisible, poisonous gas known as "boredom."
At that time, Harry Potter was making his hundredth attempt to adjust the pillow beneath him, trying to make his stiff back more comfortable, but the result was just his thirty-sixth time pulling on his ribs, and the pain made him inhale sharply.
"Hiss—" Harry muttered, his voice particularly clear in the quiet hospital room.
Almost as soon as his voice fell, the door of the hospital room was pushed open from the outside, and Madam Pomfrey entered with the stern presence of a general, face serious and walking briskly.
"What's the matter, Mr. Potter? I remember saying that small movements are okay, but vigorous activity is just asking for trouble!"
The woman's sharp gaze swept over Harry's slightly embarrassed face and the lightly shaking shoulders of Ron and Neville on the nearby bed due to suppressed laughter.
The two guys who were glared at immediately straightened their faces, looking seriously at the clean and tidy wall, as if they could spot a flower blooming there—
"N-nothing, ma'am." Harry quickly explained, "It's just... this pillow is being unruly." The boy tried to use a charming smile to get away with it.
"A pillow is meant for resting, not for playing wrestling."
Madam Pomfrey snorted, stepped forward, expertly loosened the pillow and placed it properly, "Obviously, although your ribs are healed, they still need observation for two days. And Mr. Diggory?" She turned to face the bed by the window, "Did you drink your potion?"
Upon hearing this, Cedric put down the book he was holding about Quidditch tactics, and gave a gentle but slightly tired smile, "I did, ma'am, hmm... very invigorating." The "Awakening Potion" he mentioned was a bottle of deep green viscous liquid, which felt like having a hundred Nifflers partying in one's stomach after drinking it.
On another bed, Fleur elegantly rolled her eyes, her injuries were the least and she recovered the fastest, her silvery long hair had become smooth and shiny again, but her brows still bore a trace of post-traumatic fatigue, "Boring boring, so boring..." she murmured to Cho Chang who was peeling a wrinkled apple at her bedside, with a hint of French-style delight in her voice.
The Asian girl chuckled and nodded, flawlessly peeling off a complete circle of apple skin.
Lying in the innermost bed, Daniel Stephens appeared much quieter, his mouth was still covered with a layer of smooth skin, Madam Pomfrey said it would probably take another week to treat, although he still could only make slight "mm-hmm" sounds, his mood was much better than when he thought he might have to eat using his bottom for the rest of his life.
Mrs. Pomfrey left but didn't take away the "boredom" poison; after an indeterminate time had passed, Hermione, after the sixth session of today's classes, finally appeared at the hospital room door after school, the girl opened the half-covered curtains as soon as she entered, dispersing quite a bit of the heavy scent of herbs—
"Mrs. Pomfrey said not to open the window—"
While muttering to himself, Ron remarked quietly about his Wizard Chess pieces.
"But the outside smell isn't poisonous—"
Hermione shook her hair, fixing the support to hold the window open—
"Besides, she's currently too occupied with other matters."
Then, Hermione sat by the window—to prevent Harry from dying of boredom lying there, this group of little wizards now came over as soon as they were free of lessons; Madam Pomfrey was quite vocal about it, but Hermione finally convinced her by asserting that the mental health of patients was equally important, adding that this group had just faced a two-thousand-year-old Black Wizard, Harry had even been mind-controlled—
This reasoning successfully persuaded Madam Pomfrey to agree that a few people could linger in the hospital wing after school.
For healing the injured minds of Harry and others.
Students from Beauxbatons and Ilvermorny also occasionally came, but weren't as "diligent" as Ron and his group.
"Why?"
Harry asked curiously, but before Hermione could answer, the door swung open again—this time, it was George and Fred who sneaked in, each holding an armful of colorful candies and snacks.
"Alright, the relief team has arrived! Make way!" George announced loudly.
"Mrs. Pomfrey is temporarily held up by the Slytherin little wizards bitten by the Explosive Snails, time is precious now!" Fred quickly added.
"... Is this your doing?"
Originally, Hermione hadn't suspected (after all, it was the Explosive Snails and Hagrid, logical), but she squinted at the twins, sensing things weren't straightforward.
"Oh, Hermione, you say such hurtful things—" Fred and George exchanged a glance, both sighed dejectedly, faces showing sadness.
"Ah, that's not what I meant—"
Seeing the twins seemed genuinely upset, Hermione hurriedly waved, indicating she didn't doubt them.
"To use such a questioning tone!" George suddenly shouted.
"Exactly! Of course it was us!"
Fred eagerly supported, "Did you see Marcus Flint being bitten on the backside by an Explosive Snail, jumping and calling for his mom?" He mysteriously pulled out a magic camera from his pocket, "I recorded it—but we need a TV to play it."
"Did you steal the senior's camera?"
Originally a bit angry, but hearing Fred's description, Hermione couldn't help but laugh along with Ginny.
"What do you mean steal?!"
"Exactly, obviously it was borrowing—"
Then, snacks fell like a shower of petals next to everyone's bed. The twins completely ignored Madam Pomfrey's ban on eating snacks in the Hospital Wing, knowing she was too busy to care at the moment. George even "thoughtfully" shoved a pack of Fizzing Whizbees into Daniel's hand and then winked at him.
This earned a middle finger from Daniel.
"Alright, check this out, guys, fresh off the press—today's Prophet Daily headline!"
Fred walked to the center of the hospital room and dramatically unfolded a newspaper. The bold headline immediately caught everyone's attention—
"Minister Fudge Makes a Tough Statement: William Richard to Permanently Withdraw from the Eight-Team Tournament Planning Team!" "Dumbledore Responds in Silence, Reform-Minded Referees Overwhelmed by Public Opinion?" "Latest Insider News—The Fourth and Fifth Tasks to Merge into a Single Final!"
The room suddenly fell silent for a moment, leaving only the rustling of candy wrappers being unwrapped and Fred deliberately making noise with the newspaper.
Harry felt as if he had been hit by a Petrification Curse. He stared at the newspaper headlines and then quickly glanced at his friends beside him—
Cedric's warm smile became fixed, Fleur's mouth was slightly agape in surprise, and even Daniel, who had been trying to stuff the Fizzing Whizbees into his… well… original mouth position, paused his actions and looked up in confusion.
"Wha… what?" Harry's voice was a bit dry, "Withdraw? Forced to, right? Just because of that despicable Helbo? The Ministry of Magic still doesn't believe?"
"Clearly, they do not."
Hermione said calmly, though she hesitated a bit. She clearly knew the truth beforehand, as William hadn't planned to hide it from her. However, she also couldn't tell others, since betraying someone's trust always weighed heavily on her conscience.
"Do you know something, Hermione?"
Cedric noticed Hermione's unusual expression and couldn't help but frown—"But, no, this current public opinion isn't doing our senior any favors. Is he planning to wait for the public opinion to hit rock bottom and then respond, overturning everything at once? Besides, those things aren't even true, Fudge is just talking nonsense—"
Cedric sounded a bit annoyed, but no matter how quick a boy's mind turns, he couldn't have anticipated that William had already controlled the Ministry of Magic's voice.
Only a few people were aware of this, apart from Lucius and Hermione, even Lupin didn't know about it.
"Ha, that chubby guy!"
Fleur snorted disdainfully, "Even as a foreigner, I can see that besides shirking responsibilities and spouting platitudes in front of the media, what else can he do?" Pausing, she continued, "Not to attack anyone—but are wizards in the British Wizarding World all blind?"
Ron had just stuffed his mouth with Chocolate Frogs and now mumbled unclearly—
"Of course we're not... okay, we are, wait, we're not—" After arguing left-brain against right-brain for a while, Ron coughed, "Those idiots—you know, idiots are always in the majority..."
Neville was next to him, stirring a bottle of smoking "Weasley's New Bone Health Potion" with concern. It smelled like rotten cabbage juice.
"But... won't our senior be sad?" he whispered, "He prepared for those tournaments for so long, and those venues... now nothing is left..." He recalled the massive pyramid labyrinth beneath the Black Lake and the secret realm in the Forbidden Forest, all part of William's efforts.
Even though due to some uncontrollable reasons, those things never served much purpose.
But at least, they looked good—indeed, they looked good.
Just then, the door of the hospital room swung open violently, and Ginny Weasley burst in like a whirlwind of red, her face flushed and a piece of paper tightly clenched in her hand.
"Squeak squeak!"
Kabuda, perched on the girl's head, manipulated her bangs and stood shakily.
A little girl followed behind the human and Niffler duo, her face also a bit red. Harry remembered her—she seemed to be a little wizard from Hufflepuff, with a sister in Slytherin who had been getting along well with Malfoy recently...
It had been a while since he'd seen Malfoy, and Harry finally felt he was noticing the oddities recently.
"Fresh news! Just overheard from a conversation between Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick!"
Ginny announced breathlessly, her eyes were bright, clearly not an accident—"The Ministry of Magic forced Senior William to leave the tournament's project team—"
"..."
"Why are you all not reacting one bit?"
"Because we already knew." Fred waved the newspaper in his hand.
"Then, do you also know the content of the next competition task?"
"..."
"Why don't you have any reaction to this either?"
"Because that we really don't know."