After listening to Draco and Hermione's analysis, Ron could not help grumbling, "Then you're definitely just choosing to trust Professor Fawley without thinking."
To his surprise, Draco only looked even smugger.
"No. This time, Professor Fawley's words are the trap!"
No one understood better than he did how Professor Fawley planned things when he was setting people up.
If Professor Fawley had intended to trick the students from the very beginning, then someone as meticulous as him would absolutely let a tiny clue slip by accident.
But if you really believed it and smugly thought you had caught the professor's mistake, then you had truly fallen into his trap.
This was a little technique he had learned from the professor, specially used to trick people who thought they were clever, but were nowhere near as clever as the professor.
Still, Draco had to find another, more convincing reason. Otherwise, if this analysis ever got leaked, he could forget about having another holiday before the professor left Hogwarts again.
"Compared to someone as devious... no, as meticulous as Professor Fawley, Black is obviously much more naive. There's no way he would still be plotting against us while explaining the rules."
"So you're just saying Professor Fawley is more likely to play dirty!" Ron retorted again.
"I didn't! I'm not! Don't talk nonsense!" Draco quickly waved his hands in denial.
Once their target was set, the two groups of six barely managed to put aside old grudges for the time being. Michael Corner was Ginny's ex-boyfriend, after all. Together, they headed deeper into the forest.
In a sense, although they had indeed seen through the small trap Tver had casually set up, their progress might not even be as good as most of the students who had simply charged straight ahead from the start.
Of course, compared to the small number of students trying to be clever, they were already doing much better.
"Should I praise most of the students for being too clever, or scold them for being so stupid they didn't even notice that our statements contradicted each other?"
Sirius flicked his wand helplessly, tying up a Ravenclaw student before tossing him accurately onto the pile of people behind him.
He had thought that after more than half a year of his teaching, he would definitely make Tver see these students, and his teaching ability, in a new light.
Yet these students, who were usually so sharp in class, could not seem to use their brains once they were placed in the tense atmosphere of an actual battlefield.
Tver had long since grown used to scenes like this and merely shrugged.
"That's what simulated battlefields are for. Back when I was teaching, I occasionally used this method to train students too. It's just that with all their coursework, simulations like this were never going to happen very often."
In peacetime, this kind of battlefield simulation was not especially necessary. Most wizards might never encounter a Dark wizard in their entire lives.
But during wartime, good people became indifferent, indifferent people turned wicked, and wicked people became utterly unscrupulous.
The danger they might face had clearly increased several dozen times over.
Fortunately, Tver had started training the students' combat abilities years ago. From what he had heard, Hogwarts graduates in recent years were performing quite well at the Ministry of Magic.
Take Crystal from the Joint Operations Office, for example. Although she could be a little muddleheaded at times, she did not panic when things happened and handled her work in an orderly way.
It seemed that training combat ability was actually the best way to improve a wizard's overall competence.
Sirius curled his lip. He had not expected that not only would he fail to show off, but Tver would accidentally turn the tables on him.
"I've taken out seven students, and you've only got two. Looks like you're definitely losing this competition!"
"?"
The jump in logic was so abrupt that Tver was confused for a moment before following Sirius, who had somehow become fired up again, deeper into the forest.
As for the nine students left on the ground...
Being trapped in unresponsive darkness was the punishment for losing this time~
Only, as they made their way deeper in, Tver began to wonder whether his magic was a little too effective.
How were there still students who got lost, walked backward, and foolishly bumped right into him?
At first, Tver kindly avoided them a few times. After all, it was not easy for the students to play a game like this, and being eliminated too early would be rather pitiful.
Unexpectedly, even after taking several turns, they still appeared precisely in front of Tver and were helplessly tied to the ground by his magic.
"I mean, even if you're lost, there's no need to keep drifting toward me, is there?"
"We didn't do it on purpose!" Justin Finch-Fletchley complained loudly, looking utterly wronged. "It was Malfoy and Hermione. They actually tricked us into going the opposite way!"
"At first it was Malfoy. He pretended to point out a route that might be correct, but with acting that bad, how could we possibly believe him?"
"But then Hermione said that to apologize, she'd tell us the real route!"
"So you really believed her?" Tver asked with a strange expression.
Justin and his teammates lowered their heads in shame.
"We only realized halfway through that if it was the right way, why weren't they going this way themselves... but by then it was too late, and we were really lost in the forest..."
"..."
Tver pressed his lips together to keep the smile on his face from dealing another blow to these dejected students.
Thinking about it, Draco and Hermione had teamed up, and with Harry added in, they were basically the strongest team in sixth year, maybe even in all of Hogwarts right now.
They had strength, and they had brains. Ordinary students really might not be able to gain any advantage against them.
Still, the fact that they had actually teamed up was what surprised Tver the most.
He had thought they would start fighting each other right away...
...
"I still feel a bit bad about doing that to Justin and the others."
After thinking it over, Hermione knocked her own head in frustration, blaming herself for thinking so quickly and setting people up so skillfully.
She must have been influenced by Professor Fawley's plan just now!
"Oh, please, Granger," Draco said, sounding both disdainful and a little envious.
"I only mentioned it casually. I didn't expect you to be even sharper than me and use the existing situation to make a plan instantly."
Although he considered himself stronger than Harry and Hermione overall, if they compared pure combat ability and planning ability separately, he had no choice but to admit his own shortcomings.
But that did not matter. Potter was, at most, the righteous version of Voldemort. Granger was the young, capable version of Barty Crouch.
But he, Draco Malfoy, was the same kind of all-round, powerful wizard as Professor Fawley.
Only, before his happy fantasy could even begin, Neville's surprised voice interrupted him.
"Um, is that the trophy?"