Duel Enrollment

Squid Game

Last Time:

Dumbledore smirked and sipped on the last of the potion in his glass, "I can start that potion, but it will take awhile. Now while I make a fresh batch of Poly Juice potion let's chat about how to kill Julian in the third round."

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Julian grinned as he collected a few textbooks and put them in his bag, which sat on the floor near Tom's chair, "So she's coming too? Oh, is this because the next task is under water?" He asked when Brian came into the room to take Julian and other students to Hogwarts for round 2 of the Tri-wizard tournament.

"Yes. She's helping with setting things up." Brian said noticed Tom studying in the herbology classroom while Kathy was getting some trimmings and other things to go through before ending the tutoring session with Tom. "It'll be the same as last time, but for the third round Grizzlegore might come here since Kathy will be helping in the third round."

"Might?" Tom frowned in concern as he put his textbook aside. "Do you think he won't be stopped today?" He asked and even the coils of his sweet basilisk familiar wrapping around him didn't comfort him.

"It's just a precaution. Right, dad?" Julian asked, trying to make Tom feel better. He looked at his dad's aura and hoped to see the usual calm, but even his dad was nervous.

Brian nodded, "No one is going to take any chances. We hope it will end today, but even I'm not sure which way it'll go."

'He will be ended.' Opal hissed as she nuzzled Tom's neck.

The headmaster smiled, "Everybody is going to do everything to stop Dumbledore including Julian."

Julian nodded, "I'll keep an eye on Dumbledore during the tournament."

"That's good ... be careful." Tom said nervously.

"You shouldn't worry. Let them focus on helping the minister." Kathy said as she carried a ball of sap over to the table where Tom was sitting at. "We will focus on studying."

Tom nodded and Opal slithered off his lap so he could work, "Ok ..."

"We'll tell you what happens." Julian promised and smiled at Tom before picking up his book bag, which had a built-in feather light spell so he could easily carry all the books he intended to show Cedric.

"Bye." Tom said and waved to Brian and Julian, who left to join the rest of the Legerdemain students so they could all go to the Tri-wizard tournament. "I hope everything goes well." He said, truly wishing that Dumbledore could just be arrested and the whereabouts of Rita dragged out of him with Veritaserum.

Unfortunately, Dumbledore's mind was strong so perhaps he could resist the truth coaxing potion. Some time with dementors would weaken that resistance, but would Rita last that long? Everyone was also well aware that the wizard had no problem killing. There's always a possibility that he might have a curse on her that could immediately kill Rita if Dumbledore and he would use that to avoid getting arrested. The only way to know for sure was to find Rita first. Once she is safe and they can confirm that she has no curses on her, or remove the curses if she did, then Dumbledore can be dealt with. For now Tom could only hope and do everything he can to focus on the last hour or so of tutoring before Grizzlegore arrives ...

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Cedric eagerly hurried to breakfast and was the first person at the Hufflepuff table. As the Great Hall filled up he noticed an odd tense feeling. It wasn't coming from everyone. Just Julian, Severus, Brian and the minister. Not that it was obvious though. In fact, if Cedric wasn't already curious about some of the odd things he had noticed he probably would've missed the looks passing between Severus, Julian, Brian and the minister. It was like they were waiting for something, but what?