96 The future at the bottom of a teacup

-I still can't believe it! -Hermione shouted as things calmed down and everyone left. Soisen, she and Silvia went to the Hall of Menesters so they could chat privately about what had happened- How could the Ministry be so irresponsible? -And how could it be that the age line set by Dumbledore himself had not reacted?

-That only means that whoever manipulated the chalice was old enough that the age line did not affect him," said Silvia, who was also concerned about Soisen's selection as champion.

There were records of death in the past after all!

Soisen listened to her complaints and concerns in silence. Given what had happened, the reaction from the schools was not as intense as in the original, but oddly enough, Potter still got a lot of bad looks.

He didn't have to think too hard to understand what was happening. He himself would not receive hate because his attitude towards the Tournament had been clear for some time and Cedric enjoyed the support of the majority, but Potter appeared out of nowhere and that caused people to believe that he had some way to get over Dumbledore's age line, but he did not share it or that he wished to draw attention to himself.

At this point, no matter what he said, no one would believe him.

Even his best friend, Ron Weasley, closed his narrow mind even tighter than usual and blamed him in the original, revealing that they were not as close as Potter believed, despite his later actions to apologize.

The fact that Rita Sketter began publishing various falsehoods about Potter did not help him in the least. In fact, The Prophet barely mentioned the other champions of the other schools, and neither he nor Cedric were featured, making it seem as if Potter was the only champion of the school.

-Soisen, are you listening? -Silvia called.

-Of course," Soisen replied, lying without even blinking, "I think the best thing I can do is to prepare myself for this month for whatever may come. Since I have no choice but to participate, the least I can do is to win overwhelmingly.

-Yes, I expected that approach from you," Hermione snorted, "What's the plan?

-Have a cup of tea," said Soisen to the surprise of the two witches, "Any personal preferences?

Silvia and Hermione thought Soisen was joking to ease their nerves, but he actually prepared a few cups of tea in front of them!

-Let's see what the future holds," once the tea was cool enough, she drank it in one go and contemplated the remains at the bottom of the cup, "Mmm, it looks like the first test will have to do with... dragons? Yes, definitely dragons," he nodded as he set the empty cup down and rubbed his chin, "What kind of test could they try to do with dragons? I doubt they'd ask us to kill one, they wouldn't even let us keep its body to dismantle it, the selfish bastards.

-Are you really going to trust such an unproven method? -Hermione asked incredulously.

-He's not wrong," said Silvia as she held the Divination book in her hands, by the section on prediction by hot drinks, "The remains really do have a clear shape associated with dragons or dares.

-You too?!

-Hermione, if you had to use a dragon to test someone, how would you do it? -asked Soisen, trying to move her friend's focus. As for the tea scraps, she naturally manipulated them with magic.

It was a legitimate way to "know" the future, after all.

-I... -Hermione contemplated for a moment, trying to follow her friends' thoughts -Maybe just knock him out or overcome him to reach some sort of goal?

-I don't think it's the former, dragons are resistant to magic and even an adult wizard wouldn't face them head on even with an experienced team by his side. I think it's more likely to be the latter," Silvia argued.

-Gringotts uses dragons to guard treasure, perhaps I needed to snatch something the dragon protects? -Soisen speculated deliberately.

-That's... possible, actually," Hermione shifted her eyes as she thought about the feasibility, "It forces you to overcome a dragon, but it doesn't force you to face it, and win conditions are possible. It's dangerous, but if you tie it with a sturdy chain, it will be limited and it's challenging enough to be an accomplished.

-But what kind of dragon might they try to use? -Silvia asked with a frown- They have to be weak enough not to slaughter the champions, but they can't be too weak either or there will be no point in organizing the test.

-I think we'll be able to figure out some clues in a while," Soisen commented, causing the two witches to look at him as they waited for him to continue, "Do you think they're going to bring the dragons on the day of the Tournament? No, I bet they have to temporarily place them somewhere nearby and we all know what would be the best place.

-The Forbidden Forest! -they both shouted at the same time.

-And, do we know anyone who is responsible for that area? -Soisen asked while smiling, "Someone who will be very excited to see dragons up close and could give us some "hints" as to what they are or at least confirm our theory.

-That would be cheating! -Hermione blurted out unconsciously.

-Let them disqualify me, I come out ahead either way -Soisen rolled her eyes, making it clear how little she cared about the Tournament -Besides, I already said I did some research on this competition and it's almost a tradition for champions and Headmasters to cheat within the confines of the rules.

-Will you tell Cedric and Potter? -Silvia asked as she looked up from her book.

-I'll wait until there are two weeks left to tell Cedric in case he doesn't find out, so he can prepare well -although he knows he will know, because Potter told him in the original- And as for Potter... Since he is also Hagrid's friend and Ron's older brother is involved with the dragons, I'm sure he will know something when the time comes. My question is whether he'll keep it to himself, approach me to share it, or Cedric will. After all, although we are competitors, we are from the same school and it would be ugly not to help each other a little.

Hermione nodded approvingly at that statement of sportsmanship.

-Do you think Fleur could tell you something? -Silvia asked suddenly, with a somewhat strange tone.

-Hmm? Knowing her, it's possible that she might do it to face me on equal terms, but I don't think Maxime would let her do it for the sake of competitiveness," Soisen reasoned, without having thought about that possibility before, "Come on, let's make a list of possible dragons, their habits, weaknesses, etc.

And so they spent almost a month secretly researching dragons. Hermione made sure to collect all the information she thought was important (which was not a few scrolls) and presented summaries to Soisen of each possible species that could be used as if she were handing in a homework assignment for school.

Silvia for her part, used her knowledge of dragon materials to help Soisen devise or test different spells to contemplate how effective they would be against a real dragon. Dragon skin, dragon blood, dragon liver, dragon eyes, dragon horn, etc. Soisen also wrote to Nagini, asking her to pay attention to dragon movements in the protected reserve in Romania where Charlie worked.

He wanted to know which species were to be moved as soon as possible.