Chapter 247 - 247 Disputes and resolution
Chapter 247: Disputes and resolution
"Come with me, Karkaroff, let's talk alone." Snape said in a gloomy voice.
Karkaroff's face changed again, and he actually followed Snape out of the room and walked straight to the door of the auditorium.
Without such an important voice of opposition from Karkaroff, Professor Hicks did not show much objection to this situation - Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall realized that as long as they appeased Ms. Maxime's emotions, today's accident could come to an end.
So Dumbledore looked down at Harry, and Harry looked at him, trying to read the eyes hidden behind the half-moon lenses.
"Did you put your name in the Goblet of Fire, Harry? "He asked calmly.
"No." Harry took a deep breath and said confidently.
He was clearly aware that everyone was watching him closely, and apart from Dumbledore, Professor Dracula and Professor McGonagall, including Ms. Maxime and the warriors of various schools, few people would be willing to believe him.
"Then did you ask older classmates to help you put your name into the Goblet of Fire?" Dumbledore continued to ask.
"No!" Harry was a little excited.
"Ah, he must be lying!" Ms. Maxime refuted loudly.
Like Fleur Delacour and Victor Krum, they also showed unbelievable expressions.
"He can't cross that age line," Professor McGonagall said sternly, "I believe we all agree on this-"
"Dumbledore's line must be wrong." Ms. Maxime said, shrugged her shoulders.
"Of course, this is also possible. "Dumbledore smiled and said politely.
"Albus, you know you are not wrong!" Professor McGonagall said angrily, "This statement is ridiculous! You actually believe that a great wizard who is proficient in all kinds of spells would make a mistake about an age line that is not complicated?"
"It is impossible for Harry to cross that line by himself, and as Dumbledore believes, Harry has not persuaded senior students to do it for him. I think others should believe this too!"
She looked at Ms. Maxime very angrily, and her voice gradually became louder.
"Now the facts are clear. Someone wants to harm Harry. After all, everyone knows that the Triwizard Tournament... Now it is changed to the Quadruple Tournament is a very dangerous competition. An underage fourth-year wizard has no ability to cope with this game at all!"
"Mr. Crouch... Mr. Bagman," Ms. Maxime couldn't refute Professor McGonagall, so she turned her eyes to the two officials of the Ministry of Magic, "You two are from the Ministry of Magic, and you have no direct relationship with any of our schools. You should be more objective. "
"You must also think this is extremely inappropriate, right?"
Bagman coughed lightly.
Self-centeredly, Bagman was actually quite happy about Harry's sudden participation in the Final Four Tournament. After all, he had always wanted to use the Final Four Tournament as a platform to make money.
In the past year, he had secretly added a lot of private goods to the process of the competition.
If the gambling was open, Harry, who was only in the fourth grade, would definitely have an extremely high odds... If Bagman used his authority to do some tricks in it and let Harry win in the end, it can be imagined that he would definitely be able to make up all the money he lost before. All the money will be earned back!
Bagman was filled with endless expectations.
He wiped his round baby face with a handkerchief and turned to look at Mr. Crouch.
The final say was still in Mr. Crouch's hands. According to his integrity, this matter might be difficult to accomplish.
Mr. Crouch stood outside the circle of light from the fire, his face half hidden in the shadow, looking a little weird. The half shadow made him look much older, and he looked a bit like a skeleton.
But when he spoke, his voice was still as stiff as usual.
"We must abide by the rules!" said Mr. Crouch. "The rules clearly stipulate that anyone whose name comes out of the Goblet of Fire must participate in the Triwizard Tournament."
His words surprised many people, including Bagman.
The air was quiet for a few seconds.
"Hey, Barty knows the rules by heart! "Bagman's face suddenly broke into a smile, breaking the silence.
He turned around and looked at Madam Maxime with a smile, as if the matter had been resolved satisfactorily.
"I insist that my other students re-register." Madam Maxime's expression was a little ugly, and she said forcefully, "You should put out the Goblet of Fire again, and we should continue to add names to it until each school produces two champions."
She stared into Dumbledore's eyes and said seriously, "This is fair, Dumbledore."
"But... I'm afraid this won't work," Bagman said a little panicked, "The Goblet of Fire has just gone out, and it won't be rekindled until the next tournament..."
"If you insist on using this method to gain an advantage, we won't participate in the next tournament!" Madam Maxime said, "This obviously unfair competition is completely inconsistent with our previous negotiations and consultations."
"No one expected this to happen, Madam Maxime. "Dumbledore said kindly, "But we have to finish this game anyway. We can't quit halfway, right?"
"What if we have to quit directly?" Ms. Maxime responded.
"Really?" Dracula suddenly said.
He glanced at the silver-haired girl standing beside him, and his expression suddenly became playful.
"Are you going to let your warrior violate the magic contract and become a squib?" Dracula raised his mouth and asked with interest, "I'm actually quite curious, if this Miss Delacour loses her magic, what kind of form will she become?"
"Well, the possibility of keeping the human form is indeed a little greater... But it is not ruled out that she will become another form without the support of magic?"
Fleur's face suddenly turned pale.
"You...what do you mean?" Ms. Maxime's expression also changed, trying to suppress her inner panic as much as possible.
"You know what I mean, Ms. Maxime. "Dracula said softly with a smile still on his face.
Most of the other people present looked at Dracula in confusion, and then looked at Fleur and Ms. Maxime in confusion.
They had no idea what these people were talking about.
However, Fleur and Ms. Maxime knew that what Dracula said was entirely possible.
Fleur was a half-blooded Veela.
The prototype of Veela was not human. When this creature was angry, they could transform into a bird-shaped banshee called "Harpies". They could use their innate magic to launch fireballs to attack.
Dracula was very curious about half-blooded Veela who had lost their magic power, because in this way he could see whether the half-blooded Veela still had the ability to transform into a bird-shaped banshee.
"Professor Dracula, can I think... this is a kind of coercion?" Ms. Maxime took a deep breath, tried to calm down the agitated emotions in her heart, and said coldly.
"You misunderstood, ma'am, I'm really curious. "Dracula laughed, "This kind of opportunity is hard to come by."
"You..."
"Ahem... Excuse me, Ms. Maxime." Dumbledore smiled secretly, and then tried to smooth things over seriously, "As an expert in defense against the dark arts, it is understandable that Professor Dracula is interested in these things. Please don't mind."
"I can't tell whether he really wants to harm Fleur." Ms. Maxime snorted coldly, but didn't continue to pester her.
Because she always felt that Dracula's eyes were a little dazzling, as if he really wanted to kick Fleur out of the game, just to see what a half-blooded veela would look like after losing her magic power...
"Ms. Maxime, the point is not here." Professor Hicks of Yin Famo Ni suddenly stepped forward and said to her, "If anyone has reason to complain, it's Potter..."
"Why should he complain?" Fleur Delacour asked first, stamping her feet, "He has a chance to participate in the competition, doesn't he? For so long, each of us has been hoping to be selected! To bring honor to our school! There is also a prize of one thousand Galleons - this opportunity is what many people dream of! "
"But some people hope that Potter will die for this, Miss Delacour." Professor Hicks said with a smile.
The comments from Yin Famo Ni made Ms. Maxim fall into deep thought.
If the professors of Hogwarts said this in order to give their own school an advantage, then Yin Famo Ni, such an "opponent", also said this, which is worth pondering.
"Professor Hicks, why do you also..." She said hesitantly.
"Why would I stand on the side of Hogwarts?" Professor Hicks smiled and waved his hand, "I didn't speak for Hogwarts. I just told the truth."
"What's more, we may not really suffer a loss... Although our Yin Famo Ni has not participated in your Triwizard Tournament, we have also studied historical materials seriously. "
"Looking at all the Triwizard Tournaments in history, those events have always been designed to test individual ability, without any room for teamwork. I believe this year's game is the same."
She looked at Bagman and Mr. Crouch with an inquiring look.
"Ah, I can prove that there is indeed no opportunity for teamwork in the events we set up this year." Bagman quickly patted his chest and guaranteed.
"Then there is no problem, right?" Professor Hicks smiled, "So what does it matter if one school has a few more people? Don't you believe that your students can stand out from the five, Ms. Maxim?"
She glanced at John Kowalski, who was standing respectfully beside her, and continued, "Anyway, I believe that no matter how many students Hogwarts puts on the field, John can win the final championship! "
Ms. Maxim stopped talking, and the air fell into silence again.
Everyone's eyes were on her, because her approval or not basically determined whether this important competition, which had not been repeated for a hundred years, could be held smoothly.
After a long silence, she finally nodded.
"Since Professor Hicks has said so, I also agree that Harry Potter can participate in the competition." She said, "But if I remember correctly, Professor Karkaroff has not been convinced. He is not as easy to talk to as I am."
Just then, the door of the room was suddenly pushed open.
"No need, Karkaroff has agreed!" Snape's unique greasy voice came over.
Ms. Maxim looked at the door and was surprised to find that Karkaroff was following Snape like a follower.
His face was very gloomy, but he did not raise any objections to Snape's words.
"Karkaroff, you..." Ms. Maxim said unwillingly.
"I have no objection. "Before she finished, Karkaroff spoke sparingly.
Ms. Maxime paused for a moment, then turned her head and looked deeply at Snape.
"Very good, it seems that the professors at Hogwarts are indeed talented!"
She exhaled a long breath from her nose, stared angrily, but finally did not object.
"Okay, let's continue?" Bagman seemed very excited, rubbing his hands and looking at the people in the room with a smile.
"It's time to give guidance to our warriors, right?" He said, "Barty, you tell it?"
Mr. Crouch seemed to suddenly wake up from his deep thoughts.
"Okay, guidance. "He said briefly, "Yes... the first project..." He took a few steps forward and walked into the circle of light from the fire.
The contestants all looked at Mr. Crouch. From a close distance, he looked very haggard.
There were two deep shadows under his eyes, and his wrinkled skin was as white and transparent as paper. He didn't look like this in the Quidditch World Cup final.
"The first project is to test your courage," he said to Harry, Cedric, Fleur, Viktor and John, "so we are not going to tell you what it is. The courage to face the unknown is an important quality of wizards... very important..."
"The first project will be carried out on November 24th and will be completed in front of other students and the referee. "
"When completing the competition project, the warrior must not ask for or accept any help from his teacher. When the warrior faces the first round of challenges, the only weapon in his hand is his own wand. "
"As for the content of the second project, you will have to wait until the first project is over before you know it. Because the competition is very demanding and lasts for a long time, the warriors do not have to take the annual exams. "
"That's all. Is there anything else you need to know?"