Winter snow gradually melted, and spring buds began to grow. In the blink of an eye, time had moved from January to June. With grass growing and birds singing in the gentle breeze, Hogwarts students shed their heavy winter clothing and became spirited once again.
Setting down his book, Blaise looked at Sean with resentment.
"Why don't you have to take exams while I have to suffer here cramming? This isn't fair."
Glancing at Blaise, who had been looking at him resentfully ever since the final exam review began, Sean was used to this behaviour. He grabbed a book and tossed it into Blaise's arms. "If I were you, I'd use the time spent complaining to study. I remember Rowena said she'd check your memorisation when she returns."
At the mention of Rowena, Blaise immediately straightened up and began studying, displaying his fear of his girlfriend perfectly.
This guy meeting Rowena was truly fate. Some people need another person to manage and restrain them for their lives to go smoothly. Blaise was clearly such a person, and Rowena was the one who could manage him. Sean wholeheartedly supported this.
Over the past few months, while studying Teacher Antonius's life alchemy papers, Sean had also been attending Apparition training classes with the seventh-year students.
After twelve Apparition training sessions, Sean passed the exam and officially received his Apparition licence, allowing him to use Apparition freely from now on.
When he received the certificate, the Apparition option also appeared on his status panel.
Apparition Level 2!
This was a level of proficient but unremarkable use – no mistakes, but nothing outstanding either.
"Sean, your third-round competition is coming up soon, isn't it?"
Nodding, Sean said, "That's right, soon."
"How's your preparation?"
"On June 15th, I'll go to the supervisors to make potions and tools. It's basically those same types, which is precisely why it's challenging, isn't it?"
"Be careful. Recently everyone's been saying the third round will be very dangerous. I don't know who started the rumour, but they say the third round takes place in a small town. I don't know the specifics, but everyone seems to believe it. You should prepare accordingly."
"Where did this news come from?"
"I don't know either. It just suddenly appeared recently."
"Recently..."
Sean frowned slightly.
If this were false, it wouldn't matter, but if true, it would be worth pondering.
The third round content should be top secret. The second round aside, the first round content should theoretically have been secret too, but it ended up completely leaked. Though the Ministry said nothing since all three champions knew and fairness was maintained, it was still embarrassing for the Ministry.
So for the third round, the content was strictly classified to a degree where it shouldn't circulate within Hogwarts. If it was now circulating, it meant someone in the Ministry deliberately did this. In other words, if this rumour was true, there were definitely Death Eaters among the Ministry officials responsible for these matters!
After all, from the Death Eaters' perspective, they desperately wanted Sean to win the final championship and would spare no effort to achieve this.
Interesting. Let me see if it's really you then.
At this moment, Sean was very confident, and this confidence wasn't unfounded.
[Sean Bulstrode]
[Profession: Wizard Apprentice, Wizengamot Member, Potions Master]
[Affiliation: Slytherin House of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, British Ministry of Magic]
[Skills: Smoke Rope Curse LV5MAX, Memory Charm LV5MAX, Thorn Curse LV5, Frost Domain LV5, Pain Extraction LV4, Blasting Curse LV4, Stunning Spell LV4, Petrification Curse LV4, Shield Charm LV4, Unlocking Charm LV4, Disarming Charm LV4... Animagus LV3, Storm LV3, Thunder and Lightning LV3, Pulverising Curse LV3, Confundus Charm LV3, Veneno LV3... Levicorpus LV2, Sectumsempra LV2, Child of Night LV2, Water Flow Control LV2...]
[Talents: Troll Strength LV4, Troll Hide LV4, Wolf's Swiftness LV4, Wolf's Keenness LV4, Moonnight's Blessing LV3, Water Element Affinity LV3... Skilled Casting LV3, Agile Casting LV2, Swift Casting LV2... Magic Awakening (3/7)]
[Equipment: Ebony Phoenix Wand, Pure White Pocket Watch, Undetectable Extension Bag...]
Sean's magical level had improved to an astonishing degree. These improvements came from his gains as Moody's teaching assistant. One semester of assistance meant getting an extraction opportunity from each Defence Against the Dark Arts class. Though many extractions yielded little and were sometimes duplicated, under the large sample size, Sean's magic was still elevated to an excellent level.
Simultaneously, Sean's talents were also enhanced. Setting aside Troll Strength and Troll Hide which grew with his physical development, the three talents of Skilled Casting, Agile Casting, and Swift Casting had also improved, all courtesy of the generous Moody.
When Defence Against the Dark Arts ended, looking at his status panel, Sean finally felt confident facing the upcoming Voldemort and Death Eaters.
It should be mentioned that Sean had gained considerable abilities from the second round competition.
Most importantly, he obtained two abilities from the mermaid wizard: LV2 Magical Water Flow Control and LV3 Water Element Affinity talent.
Additionally, the system determined Sean's fight with the Kraken as a draw, so he gained one ability from it – a talent called Resilient Body, which merged with Serpent King Body but didn't increase the level.
As for those mermen, they provided some very useless abilities, not worth mentioning.
That evening, returning to his room, Sean found Kulkan had returned from outside at some point.
"What, didn't go out to play today?"
Since Kulkan had initially awakened her Feathered Serpent God bloodline abilities, Sean no longer restricted her. With her capabilities, she could protect herself, so there was no need to watch her. Thus, Sean let Kulkan leave Hogwarts castle to play in the outside Forbidden Forest and Black Lake.
Unlike Sean, Kulkan could breathe underwater, which made him quite envious.
"Sean, can I discuss something with you?"
Sean looked at Kulkan and asked, "What is it?"
"I want to go out – the kind where I leave Hogwarts entirely."