Harry Potter and the Great Old Ones

Chapter 371 The Eve of the Game
After June arrived, the atmosphere in the castle became tense and exciting again.

Everyone was looking forward to the third competition, which would be held a week before the holidays, but Harry found it particularly difficult to wait.

First, there was the matter of Mr. Barty Crouch. Barty Crouch's death caused a huge uproar at Hogwarts. Although Harry was happy that no one was talking about his, Tierra's, and Dumbledore's scandalous affairs anymore, Barty Crouch's tragic death did indeed cast an inexplicable shadow over Hogwarts.

Then there were his scars—

During a divination class at the end of May, Harry had a nightmare—

He dreamt that Voldemort was torturing Wormtail, even preparing to feed him to the snakes… But immediately, Voldemort received a letter delivered by an owl. After reading it, he spared Wormtail, saying that his mistake had been corrected and that the person who shouldn't have been there was dead.

Harry almost instinctively connected what he was seeing with the death of Barty Crouch.

When Harry woke up from the nightmare, his scar burned and ached more than ever before.

Then, in Dumbledore's office, he accidentally came across a magical item called the Pensieve.

In the Pensieve, he saw a memory belonging to Dumbledore—

In this memory, he learned that Karkaroff and Snape had both been Death Eaters, Bagman had also served the Death Eaters... and Mr. Crouch's son, Barty Crouch Jr., who died in Azkaban...

To be honest, this series of events left young Harry exhausted, and he visibly lost a lot of weight.

Fortunately, Tyrell, seeing how hard Harry had worked, started massaging his forehead to soothe his nerves, just like she did at the end of their first year when his scars were sore.

Every time Harry told Tyrell about the series of strange events at Hogwarts and proposed a huge conspiracy, Tyrell would shake her head helplessly, then reassure Harry, telling him that it was all just his delusions caused by being too nervous.

You have to go whether you want to or not. Voldemort is definitely going to be resurrected, and he'll definitely need your blood, just like Snape said in the seventh book—

“Raising him is like raising a pig to be slaughtered.”

Now that little pig Harry is going to the execution ground to have his blood drawn, it's better to put him at ease than to make him nervous before his execution.

Anyway, little Harry can't change anything.

Besides Tyrell, Sirius now sends letters by owl almost every day, reminding Harry in each letter that he has no responsibility to care about things outside the walls of Hogwarts, nor the ability to influence them, and to keep him focused on the game.

"If Voldemort is truly growing stronger, I think your safety must be the priority. With Dumbledore protecting you, he can't possibly harm you, but you still need to be extra careful and avoid taking risks! We can discuss other issues later. With us adults around, you and your friends shouldn't cause trouble!"

Harry's nerves were on edge as June 24th approached, even more so than before the first and second projects.

Because he at least knew the competition content for the first and second events, but the third event—

Harry knew nothing about it.

The unknown is the scariest thing.

On the day of the competition, the Gryffindor breakfast table was bustling with activity. The messenger owl arrived, bringing Harry a lucky card from Sirius Black.

It was just a piece of parchment, folded in two, with a muddy paw print on it, but Harry liked it.

Tierra also gave Harry something—

It was a gold coin that was uneven and pitted, with a simple line drawing on one side that looked like a child's doodle.

"Lucky Coins," Tiera said with a grin, "can help you block some magic. Don't be too nervous in today's match, the championship is definitely yours."

—This is the troll amulet that Tiera made in her first year. It grants the holder three spells of magic resistance equivalent to that of a troll. It was the first magical item Tiera truly created, and from the perspective of mystical principles, the "first" always has extraordinary mystical significance.

Inside Nicholas Lemaire's alchemy hut, Tiera reworked it, enabling her to remotely activate the troll amulet, which is why the originally smooth troll amulet became somewhat pitted and uneven.

Tyrell gave Harry the troll amulet not only to ensure his safety when facing Voldemort in the graveyard, but also to help him reach the center of the maze where the trophy was located as quickly as possible.

After all, besides the various monsters inside, the most threatening thing about the third level's maze is its ability to confuse people.

Tyrell gave Harry the Troll Amulet in the hope that Harry could resist the mind-altering magic in the maze, and also as a way of wishing Harry to be the first to lift the trophy.

“Thank you, Tyella,” Harry said, then carefully put the gold coin into his shirt pocket. “But I think the championship should have been yours.”

“No, Harry,” Tierra said with a kind smile, “the championship is ours.”

“Do you remember our agreement?” Tierra said. “Whoever lifts the trophy, the prize money for the Triwizard Tournament will belong to the other person.”

“So the championship is ours,” Tierra said with a smile.

“Yes!” Harry nodded emphatically.

The final morning of the Triwizard Tournament coincided with Hogwarts' final exam.

An exam on the history of magic.

Harry and Tyrell, as champions of the Triwizard Tournament, are exempt from the final exams.

However, Tyrell would go to the exam hall for every exam, not sitting at the back of the classroom like Harry, but pacing back and forth in the exam hall, looking at this student's exam paper for a while, then looking at that student's exam paper for a while, then sighing, and then "tsk tsk tsk" a few times.

He had previously been kicked out of the exam room by Professor McGonagall, Professor Moody, Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout, and Snape.

However, because Professor Binns, the teacher of the history of magic, was a ghost and couldn't kill people, Tyella "tsk tsk tsk" for half of the exam!

Although Harry didn't have mind-reading abilities, he swore that at least half the students in the exam hall wished Tyrell would die in tonight's match.

During lunchtime after the exams, Professor McGonagall appeared in the Great Hall.

“Potter, and Tiera, warriors, gather in the meeting room next to the Great Hall after breakfast,” she said.

"But the game doesn't start until tonight!" Harry accidentally spilled scrambled eggs on himself. He thought he had remembered the wrong time.

“I know, Potter,” Professor McGonagall said, “but the champions’ relatives have been invited to watch the final, so you can meet them.” With that, she walked away, and Harry stared at her retreating figure in a daze.

“She doesn’t think the Dursleys will come, does she?” he asked Thierra, bewildered.

“It’s the Weasleys,” Tierra said, continuing to eat her steak. “Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall took into account your bad relationship with the Dursleys, so they invited the Weasleys over.”

"Really?" Harry quickly finished the rest of his lunch, then dragged Tierra to the meeting room next to the Great Hall.

Inside the conference room, Viktor Krum, who had inherited his father's aquiline nose, was speaking rapidly in Bulgarian with his dark-haired parents in a corner. Meanwhile, Fleur was chattering away in French with her mother, while Fleur's younger sister, Gabrielle, held her mother's hand. Gilderoy Lockhart stood in a corner of the conference room, still impeccably dressed, but unlike usual, he wore large, dark sunglasses that almost covered half his face.

Besides Gilderoy Lockhart, there was another tall man and a petite woman standing there.

“Xenoflius Lovegood, Luna Lovegood’s father,” Tiera said, his voice tinged with a hint of doubt. “The Lovegood family founded a magazine called ‘The Quibbler,’ which rivals the Daily Prophet in sales. I think we’ve been slandered too much by Rita Skitta, and it’s time to set the record straight. So I had Mr. Lockhart call Mr. Lovegood over as well.”

"Oh, oh, oh," Harry nodded, sounding both confused and impressed.

Then Harry saw Mrs. Weasley and Bill standing in front of the fireplace, smiling at him.

"You didn't expect that, did you!" Mrs. Weasley said enthusiastically.

Harry greeted him with a broad smile.

“We wanted to come watch your game, Harry!” She leaned down and kissed his cheek.

"How are you?" Bill smiled and shook hands with Harry. "Charlie would like to come too, but he can't get away."

Harry noticed Fleur Delacour looking at Bill with interest over her mother's shoulder. It was clear she didn't dislike the long hair and the fanged earrings at all.

“You’re so kind,” Harry said softly to Mrs. Weasley. “I was thinking of Dursleys too—”

“Hmm.” Mrs. Weasley pouted. She always avoided criticizing the Dursleys in front of Harry, but her eyes would blaze whenever she heard their names.

“It’s good to be back,” Bill said, looking around the conference room. Violet, the fat lady’s good friend, winked at Bill through her glasses. “I haven’t seen this place in five years. Is the portrait of that mad knight still there, Sir Cadogan?”

“Oh, it’s still there,” Harry said.

“Where is the fat lady?” Bill asked.

“She was there when I was in school,” Mrs. Weasley said. “One day I didn’t get back to my dorm until four in the morning, and she gave me a good scolding—”

"What were you doing outside the dorm at four in the morning?" Bill asked his mother in surprise.

Mrs. Weasley smiled, her eyes sparkling.

“I was taking a walk with your father. He was caught by the then-dorm supervisor, Apollon Prinlow, and your father still has the mark on him.”

“Show us around, Harry?” Bill said.

“Okay,” Harry said. They walked toward the door leading to the Great Hall.

Harry spent a pleasant morning walking with Bill and Mrs. Weasley in the sun-drenched fields. He showed them Beauxbatons' carriage and Durmstrang's large ship. Mrs. Weasley was particularly interested in the Whomping Willow, which she had planted after leaving school. She kept mentioning Hagrid's former gamekeeper, whose name was Aug.

"How's Percy?" Harry asked as they toured the conservatory.

"Not very good," Bill said.

“He’s very annoyed,” Mrs. Weasley said, glancing around and lowering her voice. “The department doesn’t want to publicize Mr. Crouch’s death, but they’ve taken Percy in and are questioning him about the instructions Mr. Crouch sent. They seem to think those instructions might not have been written by Crouch. Percy is under a lot of pressure, and they won’t let him take Mr. Crouch’s place as the fifth judge; they’ve put Cornelius Fudge in his place instead.”

The three of them returned to the castle for dinner.

“Mom—Bill!” Ron exclaimed in surprise as he sat down at the Gryffindor table. “What are you doing here?”

"Come watch Harry's final!" Mrs. Weasley said excitedly. "I must say, it's a great break from cooking. How did your exams go?"

“Oh…not bad,” Ron said. “I couldn’t remember all the names of those rebellious goblins, so I made up a few. It’s fine.” Ron said as he ate a patisserie. Mrs. Weasley put on a stern face: “They were all called Longbeard Long, Sloppy Lala, names like that. It’s not hard to make them up.”

Fred, George, and Ginny joined them, and Harry was overjoyed, as if he were back in the Burrow.

Bagman seemed quite happy, but Cornelius Fudge, sitting next to Madam Maxim, had a tense expression and didn't say a word. Madam Maxim kept her head down as she ate, and Harry thought her eyes looked a little red. Hagrid, on the other side of the table, kept glancing in her direction.

Dinner was more lavish than usual, but Harry ate very little, as he was now genuinely nervous. As the enchanted ceiling turned from blue to a dark purple twilight, Dumbledore rose from the faculty desk, and everyone fell silent.

"Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes I will be inviting you to the Quidditch pitch to watch the final game of the Triwizard Tournament. Now, warriors, please follow Mr. Bagman to the pitch."

During dinner, Tyella appeared. Harry waved to her, intending to invite her to sit down and eat with him, but Tyella seemed to be in a hurry. She appeared to be carrying several sheets of paper. She went to where Fleur Draco was sitting, said a few words that sounded pleading, and then handed him the papers. She then found Viktor Krum, spoke briefly, and gave him a few more letters. Then—

Just as he appeared, Tierra disappeared in a hurry again, and it wasn't until Harry and the other warriors went to the competition venue for the third event that they saw Tierra again.

Tiera had already arrived at the arena, looking around with some confusion—

Harry wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt that the current Tyella seemed slightly different from the Tyella he had just seen.

Harry didn't know how to describe the feeling, but he just felt that Tyella was different.

This used to be a Quidditch pitch, but now it's completely unrecognizable.

A twenty-foot-high hedge surrounded the edge of the area. There was a gap in front of them, the entrance to this large maze. The passageways inside were dark and somewhat frightening.

In addition, directly opposite the gap, there are four tall, wooden changing rooms.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the final match of the highly anticipated Triwizard Tournament is about to begin!" Ludobagman exclaimed excitedly. "Now, please allow me to explain the rules of this final match to the audience and the four warriors."

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(End of this chapter)