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[HP:Failed Art Student]-Chapter 47: Ethan’s Obsession with Private Competitions
🕑 Added 2025-08-06 00:38:49 +0000 UTCEthan’s voice was resolute as he faced Professor Flitwick. “Professor, I have to compete in this.”
The competition was to be held far in the north of England, a logistical nightmare that had Ethan briefly stumped. Who’d have thought the organizers would pick such a remote spot? The easiest solution, it seemed, was a Portkey to whisk them straight there. Students could focus on the contest itself, while the planners wrestled with the details.
The system’s designated secret treasure—what could it be? Ethan’s curiosity gnawed at him. The promise of both a mysterious artifact and a pile of Galleons was too tempting to resist. A win-win, really. He’d already clinched two victories on his own, so what was one more challenge?
Ethan’s tongue grazed his back teeth, a habit when excitement bubbled up inside him. He suppressed a grin, his mind already racing with possibilities.
“Ethan, are you sure you don’t want to reconsider?” Penelope Clearwater’s voice carried a note of worry. Guilt flickered in her eyes—she’d let slip about the competition, sparking Ethan’s obsession. In the past, professors from each house would nominate their top students for the event. Only if spots remained would open registration be allowed.
“I’m entering this year’s contest too,” she continued. “I tried three years ago, thought I was brilliant, but didn’t even make it halfway before I was out.” She hesitated, her gaze softening. “A first-year wizard? Ethan, it’s practically impossible.”
“No matter,” Ethan replied with a careless shrug. “There’s still the school tryout. If I don’t make the cut, I’ll know I wasn’t good enough.”
Penelope’s lips pressed into a thin line. “But… Sean Mike, that senior who invited you to the club, he’s trying out too.”
Ethan’s brow arched. So, if he joined the tryouts and flopped, Sean would have a good laugh at his expense? Typical intimidation tactic. A smirk tugged at Ethan’s lips, his calm eyes glinting with something colder. Oh, he was definitely competing now. If he let fear of mockery stop him, he might as well tumble headfirst into a Portkey and be done with it. Screw that.
Seeing Ethan’s resolve, neither Penelope nor Professor Flitwick pressed further. A proud young wizard like Ethan wouldn’t back down easily. Sometimes, only the hard smack of reality could make someone like him rethink.
“Here,” Professor Flitwick said, handing Ethan a booklet. “Read this first. You can fill out the registration form after.”
Ethan took the hefty pamphlet, its cover screaming in bold, enchanted font: Complete Guide to the Secret Realm Hunting Challenge! New Edition 1991. The cover featured a moving photograph of dozens of young wizards, torches in hand, grinning in a shadowy cave. But a closer look revealed something unsettling—jagged shapes in the shadows behind them, like the legs of a massive spider.
Ethan flipped open the booklet. The first page blared a stark warning:
【Warning! This game is extremely dangerous!】
【1794 Spider King Cave Competition: 13 students and a photographer vanished, their whereabouts still unknown!】
【Only a shattered camera was found at the scene.】
A chill ran down Ethan’s spine, but not from fear. He glanced back at the cover, those smiling students oblivious to the lurking danger. His fingers traced the photograph, inspiration sparking like Fiendfyre. The thought of facing such eerie, thrilling perils firsthand sent a shiver of excitement through him. He loved it.
Penelope, misreading his expression, mistook his thrill for fear. Pity stirred in her chest. If Ethan was set on this, she’d have to keep an eye on him during the tryouts to spare him any lasting trauma.
Oblivious to her misunderstanding, Ethan dove into the booklet with relish. The Secret Realm Hunting Challenge tested everything: spell mastery, potion brewing, herbology, magical history, and raw resilience. The stakes were sky-high.
【Please read the following accident case carefully if you are interested in participating:】
【Case 1: The 1986 incident of students trapped in coffins in the ancient Egyptian pyramids.】
According to a survivor, one student, eager to “experience the pharaoh’s life,” volunteered to climb into a coffin beside a female mummy.
【Analysis suggests the student neglected proper precautions and inhaled toxic pyramid gases, triggering hallucinations.】
Ethan squinted at the text, double-checking the student’s name. Not Michael Corner, thankfully. His interest piqued, he read on.
【Case 2: The 1887 student wall-stuck incident in the dense forest of an ancient battlefield.】
【While fleeing a vine monster, a student botched an Apparition, leaving his upper and lower body split across opposite sides of a wall…】
The poor soul spent a month in St. Mungo’s proctology ward, plagued by severe mental trauma and sleepless nights.
Ethan blinked. He flipped back to the title page. Complete Guide to the Secret Realm Hunting Challenge. He’d half-expected a Hogsmeade Horror Stories anthology. Muggleborns had nothing on this—city folk really knew how to have fun. A whole new world of chaos was opening up in his mind, and Ethan was here for it.
If he’d been chasing Herpo the Foul’s secret treasure and the prize money before, now he was genuinely hooked on the competition itself. Something wild was bound to happen, and he couldn’t wait.
His eyes crinkled with a sly smile. “Professor Flitwick, hand me the registration form.”
“I really want to try,” he said, voice earnest. “Working with other students, solving problems together—it’ll be great for my growth, don’t you think?”
For some reason, the perfectly normal sentiment sounded… off coming from Ethan. Professor Flitwick shook off the unease with a shrug and handed him the form. “Alright, alright. How can I stop a spirited young wizard like you? But the school selection starts next Friday, and you won’t have much time to prepare.”
Flitwick didn’t believe for a second that Ethan could pass the tryouts. A first-year from Hogwarts in the competition? People would think the school was scraping the bottom of the barrel—or that Ethan had pissed off the wrong person and was being sent as cannon fodder.
“The tryout simulates the challenge’s secret adventure,” Flitwick explained. “It’s held in a cliffside cave beneath the Black Lake. You’ll need to navigate a lair of giant venomous purple toads, reach the cave’s heart, retrieve a token, and return.”
Dozens of agile toads guarded the nest—far too many for a flock of conjured birds to handle. Ethan’s signature Portkey spell could only open one portal at a time, useless for transporting a swarm of creatures. With his best tricks neutralized, Flitwick couldn’t imagine how Ethan would pull it off.
Still, as a wide-eyed first-year, Ethan wasn’t aiming to win. Participation was what mattered, as he’d said—collaboration, friendship, and knowledge gained through adventure. Flitwick’s lips curved into a fond smile, picturing Ethan teaming up with other young wizards, helping one another with youthful enthusiasm.
Ah, to be young.
