All morning, Kael and Conna stayed in the cabin.
By noon, Hagrid invited them to lunch.
"Steak stew," he said. "You can't imagine how delicious it will be."
Conna was a bit curious, thinking it was some novel dish she wanted to try... until she saw Hagrid toss a large, unidentified claw into the pot.
Then she quickly made a decision... to return to the castle.
Kael felt the same because in Hagrid's so-called steak stew, there was only a palm-sized piece of steak, with the rest being a hodgepodge of random things.
Stew was fine, but the focus on steak was merely symbolic.
After making their decision, the two quickly stood up and left the cabin despite Hagrid's attempts to persuade them to stay.
And they were extremely grateful for their decision.
Perhaps to celebrate the arrival of the champions, today's lunch featured new dishes never seen before, including classic French beef bourguignon, puff onion soup, and an unnamed crispy roll—likely a specialty from Durmstrang, with quite a decent taste.
"Lucky we came back," Conna said, helping herself to a bowl of onion soup, "I can't imagine what stew with steak and those claws would taste like."
"Indeed, it's hard to imagine," Kael replied with a smile.
Besides aesthetics, they had a huge difference with Hagrid in terms of what constituted deliciousness.
However, being back at the castle also had its downsides, as Kael had to deal with enthusiastic classmates, who honestly, were a bit overly enthusiastic.
In just one meal's time, a pile of thick books appeared beside Kael.
These were all borrowed from the library, supposedly helpful for the Triwizard Tournament, but Kael casually flipped through them and found that he had read more than half of them.
Moreover, this situation persisted every day for the next few days, forcing Kael to take some time to decline these well-intentioned offers... oh, and sign autographs.
Kael never thought he'd be asked for autographs at Hogwarts, just like they did with Krum.
This was also the first time Kael realized how famous a Triwizard Tournament champion could be, since when he became the youngest member of the Merlin Knight Order, no one had asked him for an autograph.
Additionally, students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang also attended classes with them usually.
However, they were almost all sixth and seventh-year students, with not a single fifth-year student among them.
The most popular was probably Krum, who always had a crowd around him whether he was in class or appearing in the castle for other reasons.
Malfoy appeared most frequently among them, and after being quiet for two months, he finally reverted to his previous arrogant manner last week.
He started picking on Harry and Ron again... especially Ron.
Whether in class or when running into them in the castle, Malfoy would taunt Ron, giving Ron the same treatment Harry had experienced.
Ron was furious, wanting to fight Malfoy several times, but others persuaded him to hold back.
This situation persisted for a week until Wednesday at noon, when Ron went to the auditorium for lunch and overheard Malfoy belittling him in front of Krum.
"That redhead has something wrong with him," Malfoy said deliberately loudly. "He likes to suck up to anyone famous, first Potter... that fool with a scar on his head.
Maybe he thinks cozying up to Potter will get him out of that... house, let's call it that. But comically, he's failed to do so.
Viktor, you'd better watch out, don't let him latch onto you, that little follower..."
"Malfoy!"
Ron angrily pushed through the crowd and came over. "Do you dare to say that again?"
"Oh, I wondered who it was." Malfoy said sarcastically, raising his head, "You stopped sucking up to scar-head Potter? Maybe he could get you a better set of clothes."
"Buzz off, Malfoy," Harry said, firmly holding onto Ron's robe alongside Hermione, preventing him from lunging at Malfoy.
"Don't be mad, Ron."
"He just wants you to make the first move, so Professor Snape has a reason to punish you," Hermione pleaded.
"I don't care..." Ron struggled angrily, "I'm going to tear his mouth apart today!"
"So scary," Malfoy continued to mock, "And your dad, old Weasley, what an embarrassment to the Ministry of Magic..."
Ron struggled even harder.
"Ha, yeah, your family's well-dressed."
At this point, Fred and George squeezed through from the other side, looking not as agitated as Ron but rather appearing delighted.
"George, do you remember that photo in the Daily Prophet?"
"Of course, Fred, dapper Malfoy Sr. left quite an impression," George said with a smile.
Then he cleared his throat, gesturing theatrically while mimicking the newspaper's content:
"I didn't know... Minister sir, they forced me to do it, I'm innocent..."
This was Malfoy's defense during his trial, printed alongside his photo in the newspaper.
As for Fred, he exaggeratedly wiped away tears... imitating the photo of Narcissa Malfoy.
The duo, performing like a stage play, perfectly recreated the newspaper scene, making many people laugh heartily.
"You... how dare you!" Malfoy's pale face reddened slightly as he pulled out his wand, pointing it at them, "I'll make you pay!"
"Alright, bring it on!" Fred calmly said, also drawing his wand, "If you dare to act, go ahead, then claim innocence like old Malfoy. It's what your family does best, isn't it?"
Malfoy stared into Fred's eyes, his chest heaving, and the next second, they both moved simultaneously.
"Densaugeo!"
"Protego Totalum!"
A beam of light shot quickly at Fred, but rebounded even faster.
Malfoy went flying backwards, and it was clear to see his front teeth were growing at an alarming speed, extending beyond his lips towards his chin.
"What's all this commotion about?" a soft voice said.
Snape arrived. Seeing Malfoy on the ground, resembling a groundhog, he was about to speak...
"Professor, you're just in time, take a look... it really scared me just now," Fred said, dragging his words out, "I was just practicing the Iron Armor Spell, and Malfoy suddenly fell, what's going on?"
"Practicing the Iron Armor Spell?" Snape squinted his eyes.
"Yes." George said, "We really love that Charm, so we practice it often."
"That's the ticket!" Another voice joined in.
With a thumping sound, Professor Moody walked over with his wooden leg, his blue magic eye fixed on Snape, then turned to look at the just-getting-up Malfoy.
"Looks like he got hit by his own Charm," Professor Moody gruffly said, "Quite amusing... casting a Jinx on a classmate in public, Snape, how do you usually handle such things?"
Malfoy seemed terrified and didn't dare say a word.
Snape's face turned sour.
"Ten points from Slytherin, and detention for Malfoy," he coldly said, then grabbed Malfoy's cloak and dragged him away without a word further.
"Oh!"
"Praise the professor!"
Fred and George clapped as if celebrating a victory.