Chapter 4: Strangely passing
Translated by: Chua
Edited by : I, TN and Elkassar
Every contestant roughly knew Hagrid’s identity. They knew he was an important storyline character, as they picked themselves up and sat at Hagrid’s table. Hagrid raised his thick carrot-like finger and knocked against the table, clearing his throat he started:
“Gentlemen, passing my test just requires adequate strength. Apart from that, Hogwart’s caretaker Mr Filch is having a headache over those hyperactive and full of energy students. Coincidentally his doting wife Alice has fallen ill, thus Hogwarts has decided to recruit temporary handy workers to assist in their upcoming student enlisting. Alright, let us begin the test.”
After speaking, Hagrid started to search inside his huge moleskin coat, then instantly murmured:
“Weird, where is the item I borrowed from the Bloody Baron?”
But this half-giant’s expression quickly softened, he retracted his hand from his pocket and shockingly, he was holding onto another hand. More precisely, it was a translucent and light blue colored hand, it had a ghostly feel. Hagrid then loosened the translucent hand. It immediately floated up and constantly moved its fingers.
Hagrid heavily exhaled, raising his whisky up and twirling it, he faced the contestants and declared.
“Grab onto that hand, then press it down to the table. That’s how you will pass.”
This shocked the audience. That translucent hand purposefully teased the contestants by hooking its finger, provoking them greatly.
A contestant suddenly stood out, raising his voice:
“I’ll go!”
This contestant seemed to be very confident of his strength. Once he walked to the table, he grabbed onto that apparition hand and begun exerting force. It was clearly seen that the apparition hand was quickly pressed down and struck onto the table surface. Hagrid smiled and clapped, nodding his head saying:
“You’ve passed.”
Jack the Ripper lowered his voice and whispered:
“That guy is Venter, I’ve heard that his peak strength can reach 28 points. He uses a twol handed heavy sword, possessing great explosive strength. His specific capabilities are not known.”
At this moment, another contestant stood up, saying in a neutral tone:
“Mister Hagrid, I’m very interested in Mr Filch’s job. May I know what’s the test?”
Hagrid turned his head away to the bartender Nick and whistled to him.
“Nick, get me an open space.”
Bartender Nick was currently wiping a wine cup, he knocked it against the counter. Simultaneously, the vacant table and bench in the middle of the bar suddenly slid over, exposing a neat, 10 metre long space. Obviously, this bartender was not an ordinary person. Hagrid pointed at the empty space.
“Use your fastest speed to run from one side to the other. If you meet the time requirements, then you pass.”
Since this contestant dared to speak out, he naturally relied on something and easily passed the test.
Currently, adding his equipments, Sheyan’s strength had reached 13 points and his agility was merely 10 points. He naturally chose to wrestle with that apparition hand. Once he secured his grip, he concurrently felt a chilling sensation causing his body to tremble slightly. But that weird sensation quickly vanished. Sheyan started to exert strength to push down the apparition hand, however, he felt an immense resistance and had to exert great strength before pressing it down a little. Although he wasted much time, Sheyan still managed to pass the test.
Yet Jack the Ripper did not choose to compete against the apparition hand. He opted to take the sprinting test. He seemed like a person with high agility but yet his results couldn’t be considered good as he barely passed.
After Hagrid’s audition ended, there were still 3 contestants remaining. Sheyan could already conclude that in terms of strength, agility or spirit, they were all below 10 points and unable to pass. Then inferring, these people’s attributes should be based on charm, intelligence, physique or perceptive sensing.
Based on Sheyan’s previous understanding, people who possess these attributes had two possibilities. One was that the contestant had a purely high physique, his survivability was extremely high. The other was summoning masters who relied on summoning creatures to survive. Regarding these special ground, he believed that the nightmare realm would definitely have a separate arrangement.
Sure enough, after Hagrid counted his people, he turned to the three people.
“Gentlemen, very sorry that you don’t meet my requirements. But I feel that you have your redeeming qualities. Hogwarts train station is currently shorthanded, if you guys are interested you can try pleading with my beloved Nick to give you some work in Diagon alley.”
“Diagon alley!” After hearing that word, Sheyan’s heart skipped a beat. In this world, Diagon alley was the biggest marketplace for wizards. It had various rare magic items, living organisms, everything could be purchased there. Furthermore the biggest goblin bank Gringotts was located there. No doubt, it was a compensation for those contestants who gave up on the main mission. Although they were unable to enter Hogwarts school, they could still begin a new adventure in Diagon alley, a place brimming with opportunities.
The remaining 3 contestants glanced at each other. Two of them probably belonged to the same party, and chose to go to the train station. The other chose to work at Diagon alley.Hagrid drained the whisky in one gulp, he wiped his great beard and spoke to Sheyan and the rest.
“Let’s go, a few days later Hogwarts will welcome a huge amount of students. Nick! Can I use the fireplace on top?”
Nick was devotedly trying to blend a concoction of cocktails, without raising his head he replied.
“Hagrid, be careful, the Ministry of Magic might look for trouble with you.”
Hagrid ignorantly shrugged his shoulders.
“Time is tight, Dumbledore will allow this. You don’t know how terrible the state of Hogwarts is in now, it is like an overturned pot of cream of mushroom soup. You should have known, this year there is a new student with a special identity which is causing that person to become restless. Alright lads, follow me. There is a huge amount of work that needs completion. Of course, the remuneration will be significant.”
A single file strolled to the second floor of the bar, that little room was extremely congested. Hagrid sprinkled a handful of dust at the left side fireplace, that dust flickered with radiation as it scattered down slowly. Then this thing called Floo powder dispersed into the fireplace.
“Boom!” The flame inside the fireplace rapidly leapt up. Strangely, the surrounding people couldn’t feel any warmth. The colour of the flame rapidly changed and ultimately decide on dark green. Hagrid bent over, looking back and sincerely advising.
“Floo powder’s duration is only 3 minutes, if anyone misses it, then I regretfully inform you that you are fired.”
Following that, Hagrid entered into the fireplace, his massive built quickly disappeared into the flames. The rest of the contestants glanced at each other, but only Vanter led the way. Fiercely sweeping a look, he addressed the people beside him. “Lads, let’s go.” He then took the lead in entering the fireplace.
Since someone led the way, then naturally there would be others that followed. Sheyan was in no hurry to compete with others, he was the last to enter the fireplace. When that dark green flame roared at him, his subconscious mind shrunk back but yet he felt a warm wind breezing against his face. When he opened his eyes, it was pitch-black. After several minutes, a light glow appeared ahead, that light constantly became bigger just like a train that was about to exit a tunnel.
After that light turned into the entrance, Sheyan felt a strong force shoving against his back pushing him out as he stumbled a few steps ahead before regaining his balance. Looking back, the place he just exited from was an old fireplace. The place where he stood now looked like a scottish style wooden hut. The furnishing inside were all manufactured from logs, and it gave off a sweet resin fragrance. After exiting the hut he could see that the roof was painted red, like the hut was wearing a scarlet red cap.
The different huts were extremely organized here. They were arranged into a pocket-sized town. At the middle was a railway that directly meandered out to a faraway location. Looking at this scenery, Sheyan suddenly felt a certain nostalgia as though this was extremely familiar. This puzzle was instantly solved when he suddenly turned around! Actually, under the glow of the setting sun, there was a glistening vast lake. Beside the shore of this lake stood a castle that only appeared in a child’s fantasies, its grandeur was majestic!
The reality was that in a short span, he had already arrived by the side of Hogwarts school from the bustling London! Observing this environment, this was amazingly the final destination of the Hogwarts express from platform 9 and ¾!
From a distance, a chatter travelled here. Hagrid was currently walking side by side with a male wearing a flax colored shirt. The two contestants who were recommended to work at the train station stood at one corner. It looked like the deal was done. Hagrid shook that guy’s hand, turning over and shouted.
“Guys come here, quickly! We still need to cross the black lake before daybreak.”