“Ronald Weasley.” Dumbledore shouted again.
Ron stared blankly. He couldn’t help but wonder if there is another freshman named “Ronald” in the school, but he is the only one with the family name Weasley.
Soon, he stood up excitedly, I’m a champion, I’m a champion now!
He pulled along a frozen Hermione, with a happy smile on his face, and went next to Harry, as he whispered in his ear: “You’re something, mate! I thought you left me behind, how did you do it, using the invisibility cloak at night? Honestly, you should have called me up, I never looked at …”
“I didn’t throw any of the notes in it!” Harry exclaimed with annoyance. He couldn’t help but be angry, how Ron couldn’t tell that he hadn’t done anything?
“All right … you three, go to that Room.” Dumbledore said, with no smile on his face.
Murmurs raged through the great hall, causing Harry’s mind to rumble, and he just wanted to get out of here as soon as possible, to a quiet corner to think things over. He did not wait a moment to walk away as if he wanted to leave his worries behind, Hermione followed after him, and a nervous Ron walked at the end, he deliberately slowed his pace, straightened his chest, like the big shot he imagined walking in his mind, the only regret is that there is little to no applause in the great hall.
Harry pushed open the door, he had previously stretched his neck from his seat to look inside, but now he finally got a good look. It is a small room with portraits of wizards on both walls, and as they enter, a frowning witch left her frame and whispered to the wizard in the next portrait. Below the portraits, were half a dozen spacious couches that reminded him of the Magic Rune Club, with a fire burning in the fireplace directly across the room.
Harry realized something is wrong, this is obviously not a place for thinking, fifteen pairs of eyes looked over in unison, for a moment, their gaze gave Harry a feeling of suffocation. Ron pushed him from behind and laughed as he stuck his head out, “What are you waiting for, Harry? Do you want them to take one more look at the youngest champions?”
“Shut up!” Harry yelled out, but it was too late. Just a few steps away on the couch, a girl who looked like Veela, with the name “Fleur”, raised her delicate face and looked at them in surprise, “You’re all champions?”
“I’m …”
Without waiting for Harry to answer, she turned her head, her silver hair fluttered, as Harry smelled a pleasant fragrance, he choked on the words he was going to say when he heard Fleur speaking towards a certain direction: “Cedric, your underclassmen are funny …”
Harry only then realized that across from Fleur, there were three champions from Hogwarts seated. Cedric smiled at him, “What can I do for you? We can’t quite hear you from there. It’s chaotic outside.”
Harry found that he suddenly lost his ability to speak, especially in the presence of the three Hogwarts champions, it felt like Snape had cast a Langlock jinx on him secretly.
At that moment there came a rush of footsteps behind them and Ludo Bagman approached them with a run, “Why are they all blocking the door?” He said cheerfully while squeezing all three of them – Harry, Ron, and Hermione – into the room, where the heat of the room hit them.
“This is so bizarre!” Bagman squeezed Harry’s arm hard and dragged him to the center of the room, looking around as if he had been reading a classic theatre line, “Absolutely bizarre! Ladies and gentlemen …, allow me to announce this, as ridiculous as it may seem, this is the sixth group of champions of the Tournament of Champions!”
He didn’t seem to realize that everyone is staring at him, as he beckoned at Hermione and Ron, who were still standing in the doorway, “Come here, what a strange incident! Your seniors are here, you two should acquaint yourselves with them.”
Ron pulled Hermione, but she shook him off, so he walked over alone and straightened up his body, he is now giddy, with the great joy that filled every corner of his body. He suddenly wanted to raise his wand and recite the Patronus spell, he felt certain that he would succeed, he is a champion! This is a spectacle he had never seen even in the Mirror of Erised when he was in his first year.
But Fleur’s words poured cold water on him
“Sorry, Mr. Bagman,” said Fleur, “is there something wrong, they can’t compete, they are just two young little boys, plus a little girl.”
Harry looked around with an unfocused gaze, while his brain muddled with a mixture of complex emotions he saw Cedric’s confused expression, Krum frowning beside the fireplace with a gloomy expression, Byers’ wide-open mouth, three Uagadou champions gawking at him, but when he heard Fleur’s words, he still felt a flash of anger sweep through his heart.
Little boy?
At that moment, a large group of footsteps approached, the door slammed open with a “bang”, the tall and large body of Madame Maxime came in, followed by a row of Headmasters and a sickly-looking Barty Crouch Sr.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean, Dumbledore?” She said angrily, her head almost touching the floral chandelier hanging down from the ceiling which contained magical lights, and when she stood up straight, she blocked a large part of the light and the room instantly went dark.
“I’m wondering about that too, Dumbledore,” Karkaroff said, a cold smile plastered on his face and his eyes dripping with a chill.
The other Headmasters were also filled with anger, ready to lash out.
The great hall is another story.
Felix half-crouched down, as he carefully examined the extinguished Goblet of Fire, which looked like a crappy carpenter’s handiwork, and the tool used was still an incompetent axe, not even a complete Chisel.
But nonetheless, he looked at it very carefully, with a constant gleam in his eyes.
” Did you notice anything, Felix?” Flitwick asked with a whisper, “Something wrong with the Goblet of Fire?”
“It’s easy to come to that conclusion, the question is, by whom, and how.” Felix said quietly, “That’s not what worries me the most, a unique set of two champions … is not necessarily a good thing.”
Flitwick looked at him hesitantly, “Dumbledore will work that out, won’t he?”
At this point, the great hall is chaotic and turbulent, many professors have taken it upon themselves to maintain order, “Prefect and Heads, take responsibility.” Professor Sprout said in a loud voice, “The Headmasters will negotiate it through, we just have to wait.”
“Let’s not wait!” A grumpy voice said.
Professor Sprout looked back at the man limping over in dismay, “Professor Moody …?”
Moody also stayed in the great hall.
He passed over Professor Sprout, his magic eye spinning wildly in its sockets, staring at the chaotic students in the great hall.
“Quiet!” He shouted, “Now listen to me,” he paced through the crowd, his wooden cane making the dull sound of “Duk Duk”, “there was an accident, your headmasters has more important things to deal with, and there are some things I need to inquire on his behalf. Clear!”
He raised his head, with both eyes swept through the crowd, and said calmly, “I know that some of you, who either did not take the usual path or are curious about things … Anyway, you chose to walk around during the night. … And you thought you were alone, but there was some sneaky figure hidden in the darkness, and I am absolutely sure that one of you saw him … things that you thought were unusual, different from ordinary… Eerie shadows, uncharacteristic reflections, think about it and tell me.”
In a restless turmoil, the young wizards looked left and right, while in the middle of the crowd, a small Hufflepuff wizard raised his hand shakily.
” Yes! You? It’s you! What did you see, boy?”
Moody walked over and put his arm around the little wizard as he asked with his head lowered. The little wizard looked scared and tried his best to keep his eyes away from Moody’s fake eyes.
“Professor Moody, you seem to be scaring him.” Felix said, standing next to Moody at some point, sizing him up without a trace.
“You’re right, Professor Hap.” Moody smacked his lips and wore a smile on his scarred face that looked even more terrifying.
But he stepped a few steps back and gave up his place.
Felix rescued the young wizard from Moody’s grassked gently, “What’s your name? What year are you in?”
“O, Owen Caldwell, sir.” The young wizard stammered, “I’m in the first year.”
Felix smiled, “You may call me Professor Hap, so, Mr. Caldwell, you were out on your night stroll last night? You’ve got a lot of nerve for a freshman, tell me what you saw?”
“It wasn’t a night stroll, Professor Hap,” Owen emphasized, seeing Moody’s head lowered again, the ghastly face getting closer to him, he hastily closed his eyes, “I wanted to go to the kitchen to get something to eat, Eleanor told me, she, she’s a friend of mine . . But on the way back, I thought about the Goblet of Fire is in the entrance hall, I just wanted to check it out … Professor, I didn’t think about breaking school rules.”
“Well, I know, what did you see?” Felix asked the key point.
“I, I saw … saw …,” he stammered, his eyes suddenly widening, “the Headmaster of Durmstrang! ”
The great hall became so quiet that even a needle sound could be heard.
” That was impossible! He’s lying!” One of Durmstrang’s students said with righteous indignation.
“I’m not!” The young wizard named Owen turned red and shouted, “I saw his beard, a beard like a goat! Sneaking out of the entrance hall!”
“Good job, kid.” Moody grinned with a terrible leer and tugged Owen toward the room next to the great hall, “I need your testimony to see what else he has to say!”
Felix followed behind them, mulling over the situation, he is not as optimistic as Moody, there is probably already a lot of squabbling that must be going on inside.
Sure enough, as soon as they pushed the door open, they heard Karkaroff’s voice
” By-laws? Unfair by-laws! I insist that my students should re-register, and of course, there are other schools, in short, Hogwarts should be excluded this time!”
“But Karkaroff, I’m afraid that won’t work,” Bagman said restlessly, “the Goblet of Fire just went out and won’t be rekindled until the next tournament of champions”
“The next tournament, Durmstrang will never participate in it!” Karkaroff fumed, walking around the cramped room, his silver and white fur cloak making a loud windy sound, ” Then I propose that the restraints on Durmstrang students should be released, the dark magic part …”
“Karkaroff, we negotiated.”
“You are bringing up the negotiation with me? Haven’t we had enough meetings before, and what did we get in return? Shameful cheating! I’d like to leave right now!”
“You’re a thief crying out to catch a thief, Karkaroff!” Moody snarled, “All champions are obliged to participate in the tournament, just as Dumbledore said, it is bound by a magical contract unless you want to subject your students to harsh punishment.”
Karkaroff gasped and stared at him, his eyes glowing red, but he never mentioned leaving again, he turned his head to the other three headmasters, “Say something for once, am I the only one here who has an objection?”
The short witch, the Headmistress of Uagadou spoke up, her whole body plopped down on a couch by the fireplace, the three Uagadou champions stood behind her, the student with the broad shoulders shielded the light from the fireplace.
“I’ve long heard that the Tournament of Champions has always had a tradition of cheating.” She said with a wide grin, looking like a strange-looking voodoo woman: “But I’ve admired Headmaster Dumbledore, and since he said there was no cheating, there must have been another person who tampered with it”
“That’s what I’m here for.” Moody said gruffly, “Albus, I’ve brought a piece of evidence.” He nudged the young wizard, who warily repeated what he had just said in the great hall, and then closed his eyes, his eyelashes fluttered continuously.
Harry looked at him from afar, as if he saw himself once again.
At this moment, things seemed to take a turn for the worse, and everyone, including the three Champions of Durmstrang, turned their heads to look at Karkaroff, the Headmaster who had always been unpopular in the school.
“I… You… You’re making a false accusation!” Karkaroff said in a panic.
“Then tell us why you were in the entrance hall in the middle of the night?” Moody said gruffly, “Don’t try to deny it, I’m watching you with these eyes.”
Standing on the sidelines, looking exasperated, Karkaroff turned his head to the other three headmasters, “What do you think?”
“Don’t try to change the subject! Clear your suspicions first before talking to anyone else!” Moody yelled.
“What do you think I’ll do?” Karkaroff shouted, “I’m just cautious by nature and checked it out of habit … Even if I wanted to cheat, I wouldn’t have brought Hogwarts an inexplicable second set of champions!”
These words are somewhat reasonable, other headmasters nodded slightly, all of them wanted their champions to win, so how will they ever contribute to their rival school and provide them with a special advantage.
But Moody remained persistent, “Maybe someone’s aim is not to win … right,” his voice carried a hint of a growl: “Maybe someone wants Potter to die from this, yeah, some of you won’t understand What’s the big deal about an ordinary little boy … but you understand his value, don’t you, Karkaroff?”
His one magic eye rolled around, taking in the expressions of everyone in the room, the only intact eye fixed dead on Karkaroff, with his spittle flying.
“Don’t forget who you were once before, some scum will remain scum all their lives, and you are the…”
“Alastor!” Dumbledore looked at him sternly, and Moody smacked his lips and stopped talking.
Karkaroff, like a wounded small animal, suddenly lost all his strength and leaned against the wall involuntarily. “You’re … threatening! I will tell you, it is not me … I have no reason to …”
Madame Maxime grunted loudly, she occupied a couch alone and spoke out, “I must remind you that it has now gone off-topic, I do not know what your old grudge is, but, our focus now is what to do with the extra second group of champions from Hogwarts.”
“These are all minor issues.” Felix suddenly spoke up.
“What a minor issue? A Minor Issue?!” Madame Maxime repeated his words with vexation.
“That’s right, minor issues … One moment, please, ma’am.” Felix said as he looked at Dumbledore, “Albus?”
Dumbledore looked up and met his gaze
In a flash, light and shadow distorted and the world reversed.
————
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