Tver spent the entire morning lingering in the Great Hall, happily chatting with curious students who either had no classes or had already finished for the day. The conversation naturally drifted to the Triwizard Tournament and matters related to Durmstrang.
They had been curious before as well, but back then it was mostly fueled by prejudice and rumors about Durmstrang.
Now things were different. The Durmstrang students would be arriving in October, and just as Dumbledore had said, everyone wanted to greet their guests with a friendlier attitude.
If they could also get to know a few handsome or pretty "guests," that would be even better… heh heh…
Tver found it all rather amusing as he was enthusiastically pestered by this not-so-innocent crowd for the entire morning. It wasn't until after lunch that he finally managed to break free.
"Good afternoon."
Bathed in the afternoon sunlight, Tver stepped into the arena.
"Good afternoon, Professor!"
The sixth-year students replied lazily, though there was a clear spark of anticipation in their eyes as they looked at him.
"Huh, looks like there are even more people in the advanced class this year."
Tver swept his gaze across the group. He hadn't noticed it just by looking at the roster, but seeing them all gathered here in person almost made him regret teaching them so well.
His teaching quality kept improving, yet the Ministry's standards for evaluating students never rose to match it.
At this rate, by the time he got to the cohort he had taught the longest, Harry's year, the entire class might end up in the advanced course…
Even so, he didn't let any of that show. Instead, he looked at them with a hint of emotion.
"I'm very glad to see so many familiar faces here, especially a few students I honestly thought wouldn't make it into the advanced class because of their weaker theory scores."
His gaze flicked back and forth between the Weasley twins, who were proudly lifting their chins. They clearly knew he was talking about them.
"Since you've all made it into the advanced class, I assume you've grown tired of the previous lessons."
"Not at all, Professor. Every single lesson you taught us is dearly missed," George said with shameless flattery, earning a wave of boos from the others.
"Then shall we continue with the old material?" Tver asked with a laugh.
"Uh… mmph—!"
Fred slapped a hand over George's mouth, and together with Davies and Cedric, dragged him toward the back.
"George's brain's been baked by the sun, Professor. Please don't mind him."
"In that case, let's start by reviewing what we've covered before."
"In my first year at the school, when you were in third year, I used the light orb game to help you improve your spellcasting."
"In fourth year, I brought the statues into class. That was when you officially formed teams and began practical combat training."
"And last year, you trained wizard dueling techniques as teams and even took part in Hogwarts' first-ever dueling tournament!"
As the students' expressions grew more and more proud, Tver chuckled and gave them a light round of applause.
Their growth had never been instantaneous, nor had it come from combat practice alone.
It was the result of careful planning in every single lesson over the past three years, combined with the students' own dedication and hard work.
With that realization, memories surfaced of how clumsy they had been three years ago, panicking during the light orb game.
And now, they could smoothly coordinate with their partners, confidently facing all kinds of opponents.
Smiles spread across their faces, bright eyes filled with respect for their professor.
If not for his guidance, they would probably be no better than the previous sixth-years, foolishly waving their wands around without a clue.
"In my opinion, your current abilities are already on par with many adult wizards in society," Tver said with a smile.
That wasn't an exaggeration. In truth, the majority of wizards in the magical world were fairly average. Their only real advantage was greater familiarity with spellcasting.
If it truly came to a fight, these students, who had learned proper teamwork, could easily go toe-to-toe with most Ministry wizards, excluding specialized combat departments like the Aurors.
"So this year, we're going to do things a little differently."
He drew his wand, and a surge of magic poured forth.
"A more thrilling, more exciting game."
At that moment, Tver looked like a conductor. His wand was his baton, and as his casting grew more intricate, elegance and intensity coexisted seamlessly in his movements.
Under his control, the walls of the arena began to rotate, rapidly turning hazy and unreal.
The students stared in shock. Before they could even react, they suddenly realized that the surrounding walls were gone.
No, not gone. They had moved far away.
Walls that had once been close now lay thousands of feet away in every direction, stretched forward, backward, left, and right.
The arena, already spacious to begin with, had expanded until its size rivaled that of the neighboring Quidditch pitch.
"The Undetectable Extension Charm…" George muttered.
He and Fred had long dreamed of mastering that spell so they could hide their inventions in their pockets without their mother finding out.
But the spell was far more difficult than expected. Even when they managed to expand a pocket, it never lasted more than a day.
Yet now, George had watched the professor cast an Undetectable Extension Charm with his own eyes, and on a massive scale.
What made it even more terrifying was that this wasn't a pocket or a traveling tent.
This was an open arena.
Magic that exceeded his understanding so completely left him utterly speechless.
Tver, however, clicked his tongue in mild dissatisfaction.
Ever since meeting Helga Hufflepuff three years ago, he had been absorbing and studying related magic.
After nearly three years of research, he still hadn't reached the level where Helga could expand the Forbidden Forest itself.
It seemed that this kind of trump-card magic truly required slow accumulation over time.
He continued to wave his wand, adding grass and trees to the arena, along with essential cover.
He had originally considered holding the exercise directly in the Forbidden Forest, but there were simply too many uncontrollable factors there, so he abandoned the idea.
Even with the arena expanded, the space was still barely sufficient to accommodate a dozen teams fighting at once.
That said, there was one advantage.
The intensity of the battle would be much higher.
Yes, Tver intended for them to engage in a full-scale melee within a forest.
"Take a good look. This is the battlefield where you'll be fighting. You'll be assigned to random corners as teams."
"Then you'll advance toward the center and seize the proof of victory."
As he spoke, he conjured a raised platform in the middle of the arena. He rummaged around in his pocket for a moment and pulled out—
a small cake.
"Ahem. Sorry about that. This is what I have the most of in my pockets."
Amid the students' laughter, he brazenly placed the cake atop the platform. He could have transfigured a trophy, but once the magic wore off, it would revert back far sooner than the cake's shelf life.
When everything was in place, Tver's expression turned serious.
"This time, your opponents won't be fixed teams, but every classmate you encounter."
"There will be no fair three-on-three matches. You may very well face many against few."
"But don't think of this as unfair. On the battlefield, fairness has never existed."
The young wizards' expressions tightened.
Especially Cedric and his teammates, the champions of last year's fifth-year competition. From the looks in their classmates' eyes, they could already feel the intense desire to challenge them.