0561 Final Preparations

Words : 1750 Updated : Feb 9th, 2026

Here is Chapter 560 of "Harry Potter: The Golden Viper": 0561 Final Preparations A thin, wispy fog shrouded the area like a filmy veil as the... Don’t miss it!

0561 Final Preparations A thin, wispy fog shrouded the area like a filmy veil as the first morning light glimmered faintly on the horizon. High above in the dim, grey pre-dawn sky, a yellowish-brown owl returning late from its nightly hunt glided silently on the cool wind currents. It circled past the tallest astronomy tower of Hogwarts and tiredly towards the Owlery to rest its weary wings after a long night of hunting for prey in field and forest. However, just as it flashed past the Ravenclaw Tower, the owl's sharp gaze captured a wondrous sight - a majestic, circular structure that had appeared as if by magic overnight on the sturdy stone overpass set up across the deep ravine separating Hogwarts from the nearby mountains. The owl's curiosity triumphed over its bone-deep fatigue. Intrigued, it tucked its wings and dived sharply crossing several miles in the blink of an eye. Then, riding a lucky oncoming gust of wind, the brown owl quickly soared again with powerful beats of its broad wings. Eventually, it landed on the edge of a huge, rectangular screen. This enormous screen, suspended on a complex bird's nest-like steel frame structure, appeared black overall, as if a starless night sky had been captured and pinned in place. Up close, the owl could see it was pieced together by many square stone tablets fitted edge-to-edge. Each tablet was engraved with intricate magic runes. Tilting its head curiously, the owl lowered its hooked beak and pecked tentatively a few times at the strange surface with a hard-tapping sound, but this curious probing attempt was apparently defined by the enchantments as an attack. As a result, a gentle but firm wave of invisible force surged out of nowhere, catching under the owl's wings and blowing the startled bird back up into the air. Hoo hoo--! The owl circled indignantly above the intriguing building, hooting its disgruntled protest after losing a few feathers to that sudden gust. Ruffling its remaining feathers with an almost offended air, the owl shifted its attention elsewhere, studying the transformed area spread out below. Relying on its exceptional dark vision, it immediately discovered that it was not the only one hovering in the air around the new structure. A number of strange little objects were also flying around, but these were quite odd to the owl's eyes. They all had small white wings like moths or lacewings that fluttered extremely fast as they flew around. The owl had indeed seen some people stick similar things to their eyes and look around intently while it had delivered letters to various wizards. Those odd things they wore had occasionally emitted fierce, blinding white flashes of light to illuminate a scene, but unlike the small winged objects currently before its eyes, they didn't have wings. The owl did not choose to fly down lower for a closer look, despite its curiosity, because the early morning air down there contained a more concentrated amount of stirred up dust and debris at those lower positions, which made the owl's sensitive eyes feel quite uncomfortable. However, this lingering dust did not significantly affect its vision. Hovering on an air current, it could still clearly see what the bustling wizards below were doing as they worked like busy ants. A large number of wizards were waving their wands in unison as they stood around the stadium, and then the huge wooden boards and beams placed on the ground at their feet rose up and flew into the sky one by one as if pulled by invisible string. These boards inserted and fitted themselves into the load-bearing ports and sockets reserved in the steel frame's framework with loud thunking sounds, steadily forming a sturdy circular floor as they locked into place. Bang! A crisp, loud explosion nearby suddenly startled the owl, and it hurriedly flapped its wings to make itself climb higher into the safety of open sky on instinct. Twisting its head around, it looked around for the source of the disturbance. "Bryan, I've got the carpets you wanted!" As the echoes of the noise faded, a wizard appeared seemingly out of thin air with a faint pop of displaced air, carrying a large gray cloth bag. The man's eyes wandered around the transformed area, clearly searching for someone. After looking about briefly and not immediately finding anyone, he pointed his wand at his own throat and called out in an amplified voice that boomed across the space, "Oy, where are you, Bryan?" "Ah, thank you, Ludo, you've helped me out a lot--" Before long, a tall figure emerged from a hidden small room behind the shielded referee's seat at the top of the circular stadium in answer to the call. He stood on the high stand dozens of feet in the air, but still accurately pinpointed the location of the person calling him far below. "How's your wonderful new alchemy gadget coming along -- will there be any issues with it?" Bryan's eyes turned chilly and hard. He was just opening his mouth to lash on the shameless Ludo, but suddenly there was a new commotion and clatter from outside the stadium. Bryan immediately knew that Charlie and the others had escorted a few dragons to the stadium. "Ludo, I'm not going to tell you again -- don't do anything foolish or reckless," Bryan said sharply, the warning clear in his face and voice. He shook off Ludo's grip on his sleeve and gave him a final glare. "I have to go see to the new arrivals. Stay out of trouble, or there will be serious consequences." With that, Bryan turned on his back and strode away towards the hidden staircase, and his figure suddenly disappeared, leaving Ludo stamping his feet in frustration and reluctance. Down on the grassy lawn outside the stadium's main gates, four huge carriages crashed heavily to the ground, landing hard from mid-air. The massive wooden hubs creaked and cracked, deforming to an almost exaggerated degree at the moment of impact before their heavy Cushioning Charms absorbed the worst of the shock. They expanded like squashed marshmallows, then bounced back into shape, successfully bringing the four carriages -- and their critically-important living cargo -- to a safe, reasonably smooth stop on the spongy turf. Bryan popped back into existence a few yards away just as Charlie scrambled down from the lead carriage's driver's box, as he gripped the side rails. "Ho there, Charlie!" Bryan called out with a grin, striding over as Charlie jumped down the last few steps of the built-in ladder to land firmly on the grass. "How are our scaly 'protagonists of the hour', eh? No issues, I trust?" "Sleeping soundly, Bryan!" Charlie also replied loudly, "I doubt they'll wake up for a good few hours yet. Before we dosed them with the specially-brewed extra-strength Sleeping Draught, Hagrid and his helpful little elf friend... Freodom, I think he said its name was...? fed the beasties to the gills for us. After all, you know a hungry dragon is ten times more dangerous and feistier than a well-fed one, so we didn't want to risk it, not with the champions going up against them!" A huge crack opened in the ground, revealing a ramp in everyone's sight, and at the other end of the ramp, a faint glow of fire could be seen. Charlie instructed his companions to slowly drive the carriages into this temporarily made dungeon, where the dragons would be housed before the start of the tournament. Another carriage moved up to the scene from the direction of the overpass, this one containing a complete temporary field kitchen staffed by a squad of Hogwarts house-elves. They would be responsible for providing delicious lunches to the early-arriving guests in the stadium, and during the spectating period, they could also enjoy delicious drinks. Although not quite as grand in size as the professional Quidditch World Cup stadium, which could seat a hundred thousand spectators, the newly-finished Triwizard Tournament arena was still more than large enough to accommodate the sizable crowd that was expected to turn out for the event. Cleverly concealed in the misty valleys between the surrounding mountains, many massive magical broadcast antennas had been erected overnight by the crews, their rune-etched metal frames rising high into the fog. At the foot of each towering antenna, teams of goblins in Gringotts uniform and WWN staff technicians in burgundy robes hurried around the complicated-looking control panels, making last-minute adjustments and tapping their wands in careful patterns to fine-tune the sensitive equipment. As the golden rays of the morning sun finally broke through the last bit of gloom lingering low between the mountains and valleys, Bryan stood in the center of the much-changed stadium and looked up at the enormous matte-black screen hanging high above the pitch. He raised his wand and drew a complicated sharp-angled sigil in lines of glowing blue light, finishing it off with a twist and a decisive shot directly at the screen's heart. All at once, the runes etched around the screen's edges flared with blazing blue radiance, pulsing in perfect time with the dancing wand-light still flowing from the tip of Bryan's outstretched wand. The strange radiance swiftly spread inside in forks of crackling lightning until it engulfed the entire screen in a rippling field of energy. The black screen flickered, shimmered, then with a blaze of silver sparks, a stable image finally set itself out. A bird's eye view of the finished Triwizard stadium appeared as if seen from a great height, perfectly showcasing not just the stretch of the pitch itself, but also the grounds and the complex terrain of cliff, forest and lakeshore surrounding it on all sides. It was a breathtaking sight, and Bryan felt his heart swelling with pride and satisfaction as he observed it. From half a year ago to this day, all the long days and nights of work had finally, finally borne fruit. Smiling, Bryan raised his wand high above and sent up an enormous fountain of red and gold sparks to sparkle in the brightening sky like celebratory fireworks. Far above in the dissipating mists, the tired owl saw the dazzling display and, taking it as a sign, turned around and soared off for the Owlery with a final hoot. ******************************* For More Chapters; /FicFrenzy

0561 Final Preparations

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