“It’s too difficult to team up with only upperclassmen. We’ve asked around these past few days, and most of the all-sixth-year teams can't even get past the first hurdle. I suspect the professors are deliberately targeting us upperclassmen, trying to teach us a lesson.”

“So, the upperclassmen need to team up with the lowerclassmen, try to reduce the difficulty. That should be the professors' intention.”

Cedric Diggory said thoughtfully in a low voice, “Anyway, let’s first summarize the trials we might face.”

Because they didn’t know the specific rules for judging difficulty, the young wizards could only guess and summarize the content of the “exam questions” they might encounter based on different pairings. And the purpose of everyone gathering together this time was to share information and complete the strategy.

Faced with Cedric's judgment, the students present nodded one after another, chiming in with their own experiences and insights from the "Dark Arts Defense Test" dungeon these past few days.

"After the test starts, you must quickly cross the corridor and run to the wooden door entrance at the front of the level. First and second-year students only need to correctly use the unlocking charm to open the wooden door and start the test. But third-year students and above also need to break the *Anti-Unlocking Charm* before they can successfully enter the room..."

Ravenclaw prefect “Miss Peach” recalled the descriptions of her house’s young wizards, tapped her chin, looked around at the surrounding wizards, and showed a helpless expression on her face.

"If you delay too long at this stage, you will be taken away by Mr. Filch and directly given a score of 0."

“If you are in fifth year or above, you also need to break a Confundus Charm attached to the door lock... This takes up a lot of time.”

Percy Weasley thought for a moment and added an extra sentence.

A Slytherin student glanced at Percy and shook his head dismissively.

“No need to break it. One person tanks the curse, and the other two stand a little further away to help cast Finite Incantatem.”

“What’s more troublesome is Professor Sprout’s first level – after entering the door, first-year students can jump down through a trapdoor, but when I went in, the floor randomly appeared with holes, and there was not much reaction time at all! The most important thing is that there was no Devil's Snare to cushion the fall at the bottom of the cave in the first place!”

Unlike the preferential treatment that first-year students encountered on the first day of testing.

Most of the upperclassmen who tried to cheat by relying on the information from the freshmen had experienced a memorable high-altitude fall – a vertical height of nearly four meters, landing on the marble floor below was really too painful. Even without the Devil's Snare wrapping around them afterward, it was pretty much a direct elimination.

Not to mention, at Hermione’s suggestion, depending on the “team level” entering the “dungeon,” in addition to the Devil’s Snare, there were also Paralyzing Tentacles, Biting Bushes, and Sleeping Pods improved by Professor Sprout...

Professor Sprout used action to show everyone how terrifying the traps set by a master Herbology expert were.

Devil’s Snare fears sunlight and likes cold, shady environments, but Biting Bushes will go berserk when exposed to strong light; Paralyzing Tentacles move slowly in cold environments, while Sleeping Pods explode when scorched by flames...

In short, if you don't establish protective measures in the first place and accurately respond according to the characteristics of each magical plant, you may unknowingly wake up again in the Hogwarts Hospital Wing.

Including the experience of almost breaking his leg the first time, Percy Weasley’s team had been wiped out by a group of plants three times in a row.

The first-year students were relatively much luckier; they only needed to face the most basic Devil's Snare.

However, even so, the little guys also provided some valuable experience from their own lessons.

A simple Lumos charm is useless; it must be Lumos Solem with the effect of sunlight, otherwise, it will only waste energy in vain – of course, if you are an upperclassman, you will be lucky enough to welcome a berserk Biting Bush.

And this was only the first hurdle…

After spending some time summarizing a whole two parchment scrolls worth of response plans, Percy Weasley picked up the parchment in front of him and looked at it quite seriously. The expression on his face relaxed a little. This was the benefit of collective wisdom.

“If nothing unexpected happens, the second hurdle should be set up by Professor Flitwick.”

Looking at the students from other houses around, a Ravenclaw upperclassman said with great certainty.

“After passing the first hurdle, you can follow the stone path to enter an extremely spacious room. The room should be using a Space-Extension Charm, roughly twenty-five to thirty feet high. Dozens of winged keys are flying on the dome – we have tried many times, and these magical animated creations that look like flying birds are the best choice to get to the next hurdle.”

“Dozens? Wait, I remember there were hundreds of them?”

Percy Weasley frowned and interrupted, somewhat confused.

The impression of those magical keys flying all over the sky was particularly deep in his mind.

Originally, they planned to break through the door directly, but before their spells could leave a mark on the wooden door leading to the next hurdle, those "key birds" in the sky went crazy, attacking them like small daggers – fortunately, the ends of the keys were rounded into hemispheres, so they wouldn't directly poke holes.

“That’s the effect of the Gemino Curse. You should have noticed that the number of keys in the sky has been increasing, right? Every time you touch a key, it causes their number to increase. The purpose of this hurdle should mainly be to test how long each team’s defensive spells can last, and whether they can break the magic protection on the wooden door within a limited time, or catch that unique key.”

The Ravenclaw girl nodded, raised a finger, and showed a cunning smile.

“Moreover, we found a shortcut... First, jointly cast Finite Incantatem to clear the copied keys, then ride a flying broom, fly directly into the sky, and cooperate with magic to directly catch that cunning little key.”

“W-wait... a unique key? What are you talking about?!”

“It seems that you didn’t notice it, or haven’t encountered it yet. I forgot to say it just now…”

After pausing slightly, the Ravenclaw prefect “Miss Peach” sighed helplessly.

“This kind of clever method can only be used in teams with an average grade of less than five. Because once the team is full of students in the fifth year or above, the key that can directly open the wooden door will disappear. The only way to pass the second hurdle is to resist the attacks and break the magic protection as soon as possible.”

“As for the difficulty, I guess it might not be much different from directly facing a young Professor Flitwick…”

“By the way, here’s a somewhat depressing message. I secretly asked Professor Flitwick some time ago. It seems that when each professor sets up a hurdle, they are simulating it based on their own magical attainments and knowledge mastery at the same age…”

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Chapter Two! Oh my God!!
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