Chapter 164: The draw for the quarterfinals (Part 1)

A few days later, the draw for the quarterfinals of the first Hogwarts dueling tournament began in the hall.

Mike, Cedric and others were waiting in a small room in the backstage of the hall to go on stage for the draw ceremony. In the past few days, Mike had been following Professor Flitwick's instructions before he left, keeping a low profile. In addition to continuing to monitor Percy through the Marauder's Map every day, he did not continue to participate in the investigation of Percy.

And the news that Mike had expected that Percy would soon be caught by Dumbledore and the Horcrux notebook would be destroyed did not appear. Hogwarts was calm in the past few days, just like Mike did not tell Flitwick and others about the Horcruxes a few days ago.

On the contrary, what happened in front of the eagle-head door knocker that day gradually spread throughout Hogwarts.

Most people stood on Mike's side. After all, this matter was almost entirely provoked by Percy, and he deserved such a severe punishment. There were even many Slytherins who had been criticizing and mocking Gryffindor students for this matter.

However, there were still a small number of Gryffindor rookies who firmly stood on Percy's side. Even though they blocked the door of the Ravenclaw common room, Percy's punishment was too severe, while Mike, who was the first to hurt people, was not punished. They felt that this

was very unfair. However, Mike didn't care about this at all. These guys who only helped their relatives were a minority even in Gryffindor and could not cause any trouble. On the contrary, Mike was very worried because Professor Flitwick had been gone for so many days and there was no news. In the past few days, even Professor McGonagall was teaching the spells class.

"What's wrong with you? Didn't you sleep well last night?"

Cedric on the side seemed to see that Mike was in a bad state and asked.

"Thank you, I'm fine."

Hearing this, Mike slapped his face twice and forced himself to cheer up.

"Don't pay attention to him, he just had a quarrel with his girlfriend." At this time, Carol suddenly appeared and said to Cedric.

"How could I quarrel with Penelope? Don't slander her innocence."

Facing Mike's denial, Carol crossed her arms and raised her head and said, "You still say no, Penelope told me that you never comforted her after the Percy incident, and you didn't take any action even if she deliberately ignored you. I have seen many men like you, cold violence!"

Seeing that Carol was almost pointing at his nose and calling him a scumbag, Mike was speechless.

He admitted that recently his mind was all on improving his own strength and Percy, and he had ignored Penelope a little, but things were not as bad as Carol said.

Just when Mike was extremely embarrassed and didn't know how to defend himself, Lockhart, who was wearing a feather crown and dressed very exaggeratedly, suddenly pushed open the door of the room.

"Gentlemen, ladies, it's your turn!"

Mike only felt that Lockhart's greasy voice sounded so beautiful at this moment, and he stood up and came to Lockhart's side, while Carol continued to look at Mike with the eyes of a scumbag.

Lockhart was obviously a little surprised by Mike's big reaction, but he thought Mike just couldn't wait to appear on the stage, so he patted Mike's shoulder with a smile.

The other two Slytherin players were very dissatisfied with Mike's behavior of taking the lead, and finally Cedric, he smiled bitterly and followed.

"Everyone! Let's warmly welcome the eight strongest players of this duel competition! The first one is coming to us! It's... Mike!"

Mike stepped onto the stage after hearing Lockhart calling his name. As soon as he appeared in the hall, he caused cheers from everyone in the hall, but there were also a few boos mixed in the cheers. Although it was still small, Mike still heard it. Mike did

n't care about it. After waving his hand to everyone, he stood in a corner of the stage, watching his heart and nose.

He didn't need to guess that those few black fans should all be Gryffindor. After all, he got rid of Percy, the favorite to win the championship, and reduced Gryffindor's chances of winning.

The auditorium did not have the kind of "amazing" decoration today. Lockhart's strange aesthetic finally caused dissatisfaction among other professors in Hogwarts, and they warned him not to make such jaw-dropping transformations to Hogwarts Castle again.

Lockhart ignored the boos from the audience like Mike, and continued to call out the names of the remaining top eight.

As Lockhart called out the names, one contestant after another stepped onto the stage, and the audience did not hesitate to applaud.

Among them, Carol and Cedric received much more applause and cheers than Mike. Cedric was not to be mentioned, he was handsome, strong, and especially good at dealing with people. Carol gained a lot of fans because of her performance in the 12-to-8 match. Everyone was conquered by her heroic figure rushing towards the huge fireball.

The other contestants received much less applause, especially the Slytherin contestant who came on stage last.

This contestant had been eliminated, but because Percy was forced to withdraw from the competition, he became the new top eight through the loser group competition. No one recognized his strength.

Because of his joining, the personnel ratio of the top eight became: 2 Gryffindors, 3 Slytherins, 2 Ravenclaws, and 1 Hufflepuff. Slytherins surpassed Gryffindor in number due to Percy's withdrawal, which was one of the reasons why Gryffindor students disliked Mike.

"Okay! All the top eight are here, and the draw has finally begun!" Lockhart waved his wand, and a huge gilded draw box shining with golden light appeared in front of everyone. "The way to draw lots is very simple. There are 8 slips of paper in this draw box, with 4 numbers from one to four written on them. Those who draw the same number will become opponents! Okay! Let's get started! Mike, you're the first one." Mike put his

hand into the draw box expressionlessly. As soon as his hand was in, Mike felt that there was an irregular strong wind blowing in the box, and the slips of paper were also carried by the hurricane and flying in the draw box.

He grabbed a slip and opened it, and saw a big 1 written on it.

"Mike has drawn number 1!" Lockhart held the paper high up to the audience, "Next! Carol!"

Carol also stepped forward upon hearing the voice, and the number she drew was actually the same as Mike's, number 1!

After Lockhart announced the numbers, the audience immediately started to talk.

"It's over! There's a civil war in Ravenclaw, I was thinking that Carol would be able to meet Mike in the finals."

"Great! Now no matter who wins, there will only be one Ravenclaw left!"

Ignoring the discussions in the audience and the strange looks from other contestants, Mike and Carol's eyes met, and at this moment, there seemed to be sparks in the air.