"Who do you think you can threaten? Karkaroff!" A voice roared at the door. All the warriors here must participate in the competition. As Crouch said, this is planned by the charter and this is also the contract that binds them!"

"Besides, wouldn't this be to your benefit?" Moody had just entered the room. He limped towards the fire, his right foot thumping loudly every time it landed, and he glanced at Karkaroff with disdain, as if he were a jumping ant.

"Advantageous?" said Karkaroff. "I'm afraid not, and I don't understand you, Moody."

Karkaroff looked frightened of Moody, and he couldn't even meet his eyes when he spoke.

He tried hard to look less nervous, but his furrowed brow and slightly trembling arms revealed his current mood.

Lamia scoffed but said nothing.

"Is that so?" Moody murmured. "It's simple, Karkaroff. Someone put their names in that goblet, and he knew that if they were sprayed out, they would have to compete."

"Obviously, that person thinks that one chance at Hogwarts is not enough, at least three times is needed!" Madame Maxime said, frowning and adjusting her hair.

"It's hard to disagree with you, Madame Maxime," Karkaroff said, bowing to her. "I hope you will join me in filing a complaint with the Ministry of Magic and the International Confederation of Wizards!"

"You're the least qualified!" Moody growled. "If anyone can complain, it's these two little ones, but—funny how I hear them utter a single word of complaint. Besides, this young lady wants to prove she didn't put her name in there."

Moody took a few steps forward. "If you ask me, you're no match for these two little guys!"

"Why should he complain?" Fleur Delacour could not help asking, stamping her foot. "He's got his chance, isn't he? We've all been hoping for weeks to be chosen! To bring honour to our school! And with a thousand Galleons in prize money – it's an opportunity many people only dream of!"

"What if the price is life? They might lose their lives!" Moody said with a hint of a roar in his tone.

After he finished speaking, there was an extremely tense silence.

Ludo Bagman looked extremely anxious. He moved his body restlessly up and down and said, "Moody, you old fellow, how can you say such things?"

"We all know that Professor Moody considers the morning wasted if he doesn't discover six murder attempts on his life before lunch," Karkaroff said loudly, mocking Moody uncontrollably.

"Apparently, he is now teaching his students to be paranoid - to always believe that someone is trying to murder them. This quality is rare for a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dumbledore, but you undoubtedly have your own considerations in appointing him."

"What? Am I making this up?" Moody roared. "That person is definitely a high-level wizard who is very good at using Confusion Charms. At the very least, it definitely couldn't be these two students."

"Oh, what evidence do you have for this?" Madame Maxime raised her hand.

"Because they tricked the Goblet of Fire, which was incredibly powerful!" said Moody. "It would have taken a particularly powerful Confounding Charm to fool the Goblet into forgetting there were only three schools in the Tournament.

I guess he must have put their names in as the fourth and fifth schools to make sure they were the only ones there."

"You seem to have put a lot of thought into this, Moody," Karkaroff said dryly. "It's a very novel theory."

"There are indeed those who exploit innocent activities for their own ends," Moody retorted menacingly. "My job is to think like a Dark wizard, Karkaroff - you will remember that..."

"Attention! Alastor!" Dumbledore warned.

Lamia wondered for a moment who he was talking to, then she realized that "Mad-Eye" couldn't be Moody's real name.

Moody fell silent, but continued to study Karkaroff with utter satisfaction, his face a fiery red.

"No one wants to see this," Dumbledore said to everyone in the room, "but now we have no choice but to accept it. Since Lamia and Potter have been selected to participate in the competition, they must..."

"Ah, but Dumbledore—"

"My dear Madame Maxime, perhaps you have another idea? That would be great, this is so timely."

Dumbledore waited, but Madame Maxime didn't say anything. She had no idea how to start. And she was not the only one. Everyone present was not very happy with the situation.

Snape looked angry, although Lamia didn't know what he was angry about. Karkaroff's face was even more frighteningly pale.

"Well, shall we get on with it?" Bagman said, rubbing his hands together and beaming at the room. "Time to give our warriors some instruction, eh? Barty, you'll do the talking."

Mr. Crouch seemed suddenly to be brought out of his deep thoughts.

"Okay," he said, "coaching, yes, first project..."

He took a few steps forward, walked into the circle of light from the fire, and stood just within Lamia's field of vision. From a close look, Lamia saw that he was very haggard.

There were deep shadows under his eyes, and his wrinkled skin was paper-white and transparent, a different look from when he played at the Quidditch World Cup.

"The first project, with all due respect, I'm not going to reveal anything," Crouch said, "but I can tell you it's about courage, and courage is a very important factor, especially for students."

"It will be done on November 24th and it will be done in front of everyone's eyes and will be scrutinized by the students as well as the judges."

"Until they complete the competition, the warriors are on their own and will not receive help from anyone. They can only rely on their own magic wands.

After the first event is over, you will be allowed to learn about the second event. Due to the high demands and long duration of the competition, the warriors will not take the academic year exams. "

Mr. Crouch turned and looked at Dumbledore.

"I think that's all, Albus?"

"Yes," said Dumbledore, looking at Mr. Crouch with a hint of concern. "You really don't want to stay at Hogwarts tonight, Barty?"

"Yes, Dumbledore, I must get back to the Ministry," said Mr. Crouch.

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like