Hogwarts: Even Voldemort Can't Stop Me From Studying

Chapter 834 205: It's a Poppet

Clementine's ears suddenly twitched, and she quickly raised her head, pointing her magic wand towards the source of the sound, her face still covered in breadcrumbs.

"Something is approaching!"

Hope immediately dropped the kettle, rolled away from her original spot, and grabbed her magic wand.

The bushes rustled and shook, and out came Natalia, looking disheveled and with conspicuous bloodstains on her clothes.

Seeing the scene before her, she quickly changed her forward steps to retreat, pointing her magic wand at Clementine, while the trees beside her blocked Hope's angle to cast a spell at her.

Hope raised an eyebrow slightly, slowly shifting her footsteps, her gaze fixed on the corner of the clothing showing through the gap in the bushes.

Three magic wands confronted each other in the dim forest, the air seemingly frozen, a battle ready to explode.

At that moment, Clementine suddenly smiled and was the first to put down her magic wand.

"Calm down, Natalia, I have no intention of being your enemy." She said sweetly, "Why don't we all put down our wands and have a good talk?"

Natalia tilted her head and said, "Don't tell me, you don't know there's only one champion this time."

"I know very well! The rules of the competition are not only seen by you," Clementine shrugged, puffing her cheeks, "But do you think our odds of winning the championship are high with just the three of us?"

Natalia fell silent, her tense expression relaxing somewhat.

"I'm sure you know that compared to you and me, Vid Gray, Jabari Viven, Victor Krum are much bigger threats."

Clementine said helplessly, "Even Harry Potter, that little kid, feels dangerous - the title of Savior is not for nothing; he might have some trump card we haven't seen yet!"

Her gaze swept over the blood on Natalia's body and said, "It looks like you've already been injured, rather than consuming each other with us, how about the three of us form an alliance? Assist each other until we see the Goblet of Fire, never betraying each other. If we really manage to reach the end... let's see who has the skills, alright?"

Natalia said, "Sounds reasonable."

Clementine smiled, "So your answer is..."

"Sorry." The blonde girl said expressionlessly, "I'd rather rely on my own skills, even if I lose, I have no regrets."

Clementine looked into her eyes and sighed helplessly but still didn't pick up her magic wand.

She made a surrendering gesture and said, "Alright... but at least we don't have to be enemies, right? Just dealing with the dangers in the Forbidden Forest is enough of a challenge."

She tilted her head and smiled, "Between us... there shouldn't be any grudges to the point of wanting to eliminate each other even if we get injured or eliminated, right?"

Natalia slowly nodded, her magic wand finally lowering a bit. She retreated a few steps backward, then suddenly spoke:

"I advise you two to be careful - the poppets Vid created have already been deployed; I just encountered a gorilla."

Clementine's smile stiffened slightly, "A gorilla? You got injured because of..."

Natalia nodded, "Don't think of the poppets as toys you find in stores; at least the gorilla I encountered was smart and dangerous."

After saying that, she walked into the forest without looking back, the sound of rustling leaves swiftly moving away, leaving Clementine's expression extremely serious.

"It seems Vid Gray isn't going for quantity this time; he's opting to improve the quality of the poppets."

As she spoke, she turned around, "Hope, we're afraid we have to..."

The girl's voice suddenly stopped.

Hope had been standing there just now, coordinating, but now the place where she should have been was empty, only the backpack lying on the ground, the tilted kettle leaning against the stone still dripping water drop by drop.

Clementine felt a sudden chill.

"Hope?"

She shouted, her voice echoing in the Forbidden Forest. Suddenly, the girl reacted, shuddered, quickly grabbed the backpack on the ground, and attempted to flee!

"Whoosh!"

A thin, long tongue suddenly shot down from the canopy, hitting her back, but at the moment of contact, it seemed to hit some barrier and was forcibly bounced back, leaving a bright arc in the air.

"I knew it!"

Clementine turned and raised her magic wand, shouting loudly, "Reducto!"

The branches were blasted into pieces by the spell, but the canopy above was empty, without any gorillas or monkeys.

"Damn it!"

Clementine quickly changed positions, but didn't dare run into the forest easily. She breathed heavily, her gaze nervously scanning the surroundings.

"Rustle..."

Her ears caught the sound of plants swaying, the girl quickly turned, "Reducto!"

"Bang!" A charred mark appeared on the tree trunk.

"Snap!"

It seemed like some animal had snapped a branch.

"Incendio!"

The fire ignited a pile of leaves in the forest, but the flames only burned for a while, then gradually extinguished due to lack of continuation and the damp ground.

"Swoosh—"

"Rustle rustle rustle..."

"Snap..."

"Boom!"

The random sounds seemed to come from all directions, but each of Clementine's spells could only hit the surrounding trees, blasting wood chips into the air.

Her breathing became more rapid, feeling an unusual fatigue all over.

"Can't keep exhausting like this..."

Clementine gritted her teeth and whispered, then made a fake move, pretending to escape from the left. When she heard the sound following her movements in the forest, she quickly unleashed a Lumos Charm, and the dazzling light instantly illuminated the entire area.

Just at this moment!

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the girl sprinted towards the direction Natalia had left, ignoring her clothes being torn by thorns, and even abandoned her backpack.

The rustling sound seemed to chase quickly from behind, her magic wand pointed backward, casting a spell, "Impedimenta!"

A muffled sound came vaguely from behind, and Clementine didn't look back, rushing across a creek before glancing back.

With this glance, she instantly felt cold all over—

A giant lizard lay on the rocks by the creek, its visible body alone measuring two meters long. Its rugged back was lined with sawtooth flashing metallic cold light, its claws tightly gripping the cracks in the rocks, and its murky yellow eyes fixated on her, reflecting her trembling expression like prey.

—Is it a poppet, or a magical creature in the Forbidden Forest?

As this question popped up in Clementine's mind, she noticed the monster's scales bear plant-like patterns, and there were several smooth stones where the claws joined the body.

So... it is a poppet...

While she was shocked into silence, the lizard slowly crawled back a few steps, its body completely blending with the surrounding aquatic plants until it vanished.

Clementine shivered violently.