Harry returns from Hogwarts Legacy

Chapter 286 Jealous King Grindelwald
Dumbledore didn't come to question him for any other reason, but rather because the matter was inherently ambiguous.

The mermaids were the trial plan he arranged, and he was the one who communicated with them. Now that the mermaids have voluntarily sent out the Hogwarts champions as hostages, this matter...

To put it nicely, Harry's personal charm may have captivated the merman.

But people from other schools wouldn't think that way. They would only assume that Dumbledore must have made prior arrangements with the merfolk, which is why they willingly handed over the hostages belonging to the Hogwarts champions.

Cleo recounted exactly what had happened underwater to Dumbledore. Dumbledore was initially taken aback, then glanced at Harry before frowning.

“Okay,” he said. “You also need to go to the VIP section and tell the referees what just happened…”

Cleo followed Dumbledore to the head seat.

It's unclear what they talked about, but Mrs. Maxim's expression relaxed, while Karkarov's brow remained furrowed.

A moment later, Viktor emerged from the water, still holding his dance partner, a hostage, in his arms.

He swam to the water's edge, placed the hostage on the ground, and cheers and applause erupted around him.

As a star Seeker in Quidditch, Viktor is quite popular at Hogwarts.

Harry sat to the side and clapped for Viktor with restraint.

"That felt great," Ron said, drying himself off and sniffing. "It felt so good to be soaking in the water..."

“You’ve probably lost your mind,” Hermione said with a sneer. “See Karkaroff’s expression? He’s definitely looking for an opportunity to pick a fight with Harry—think about it.”

“Don’t worry, it doesn’t matter,” Harry said, shrugging. “Do I care how he grades me?”

That's not wrong.

A short while later, Furong rose from the water and floated on the surface.

She had many wounds on her body and appeared to be unconscious.

Mrs. Maxim moved quickly; she immediately came to Fleur's side and led her to the shore.

Mrs. Pomfrey stepped forward and began to treat Fleur.

After a while, Furong slowly woke up.

“Grindylow…” she spat out two mouthfuls of water, “There are just too many of them, I can’t… I can’t… They’re surging up like crazy… Gabrielle, where is Gabrielle? Is she alright?”

Furong stood up and screamed as she tried to run into the water.

Mrs. Maxim held her tightly to prevent her from running into the water.

She's in such bad shape right now and needs to rest, not go back into the water.

Just then, the mermaids rose from the water and carried Gabrielle back to shore.

"Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Is she alive? Is she hurt?"

Fleur was completely hysterical. She broke free from Mrs. Maxim's restraints and struggled to run over to Gabrielle, embracing her tightly.

“She’s fine,” said the mermaid who seemed to be the female leader. “Mr. Potter instructed us to send the hostage back to shore if the last warrior did not appear, and we did so.”

Upon hearing the female leader's words, Furong immediately perked up.

She ran to Harry and cupped his face in her hands.

“You saved her,” she said, almost breathless with emotion, “even though she wasn’t your hostage.”

After she finished speaking, she lowered her head and kissed Harry twice on each cheek.

Suddenly, the once bright and sunny sky turned into a dense cloud cover in an instant.

A bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, and Harry quickly broke free from Fleur's embrace.

"It's what I should do." He wiped his cheek haphazardly with his sleeve, desperately trying to survive as he continued jumping backward.

When he turned around, he saw Vivi smiling, Cassandra with a blank expression, and Papiyas, whose chest was heaving with anger.

broken.

Harry thought to himself, "Fleur is probably in for a rough time..."

He had to persuade Vivi properly, otherwise it would be bad if she caused an international diplomatic incident. Besides, Vivi herself was the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Magic of Austria, no, Greater Germany. She couldn't be stained with blood and make people think she was a bloodthirsty and murderous Grindelwald.

The referees returned to their seats in the main audience, and Harry noticed that Mr. Bagman was giving him a thumbs-up from a distance.

Of course, Mr. Crouch had already returned to his seat in the main guest seat, looking somewhat absent-minded and with a rather complicated expression.

"When did he get back?" Harry asked curiously.

“Who?” Ron asked.

“Mr. Crouch,” Harry said, “wasn’t it said that Mr. Crouch was missing? How come he’s suddenly back? Have they found him?”

"I think so?" Ron shrugged. "He just sat in that seat. You mean he's missing? Percy didn't tell us about it..."

Harry thought to himself that Percy had probably already been recruited by someone else, so of course he wouldn't care about Crouch's disappearance.

Vivi had already told him about Percy; the guy wasn't loyal to Mr. Crouch, he just wanted to be the director's secretary and didn't care who the director was.

At this moment, Ludo Bagman stood up and cast an amplification spell on himself.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have finally made a decision. Our mermaid leader, Cleo, has told us everything that happened beneath the lake. Therefore, we have decided to score each of you warriors out of a maximum of fifty points, as follows..."

"While Fleur Delacour demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble Head Charm, she was attacked by Greenlody as she approached her target and failed to rescue the hostage—we give her 25 points."

There was a round of applause from the stands.

“I should get zero points,” Fleur said, shaking her beautiful head in a hoarse voice. “Viktor Krum used Transfiguration, incomplete but still effective, and he was the second to return with the hostages—we give him 40 points.”

Karkarov clapped his hands with extra enthusiasm, looking quite smug.

“Mr. Harry Potter,” Mr. Bagman said again, “was the first to return to land, though he was escorted by mermaids. But after some clarification, we learned what happened in the water—Mr. Potter gained the friendship of the mermaids, and he wanted to make sure all the hostages returned safely, not just his own.”

"Oh ho," Ron muttered, "I think that bastard Karkaroff is going to find a reason to deduct points from your score."

“Most judges,” Bagman said, glancing at Karkaroff with obvious displeasure, “felt this was a perfect display of high moral character. However… Mr. Potter’s score was 45.”

“You guessed right,” Hermione said, clapping her hands. “Those five points were definitely deducted by Karkaroff, that bitch!”

“You swore!” Ron stared at Hermione in surprise. “You actually swore, that’s not good…”

"Oh, come on Ronald." Hermione rolled her eyes.

Everyone applauded Harry enthusiastically. The Hogwarts students certainly believed that Harry had won the merfolk's friendship—but at the same time, they didn't believe that Harry had won the merfolk's friendship through peaceful means.

“You’re something else, Harry!” Ron yelled at the top of his lungs amidst the commotion.

“The third and final project will take place on the evening of June 24,” Bagman continued. “The Warriors will know the details of the project a month in advance—thank you for your support of the Warriors.”

After the second project ended, the most wonderful thing was that everyone was eager to know what had happened at the bottom of the lake, which meant that for the first time in his life, Ron became the center of attention, just like Harry.

Harry noticed that Ron told the story over and over again, each time with slight variations.

At first, what he said was fairly true, and largely the same as Hermione's account—in Professor McGonagall's office, Dumbledore used magic to hypnotize the hostages and first assured them that they were in no danger and would wake up as soon as they came out of the water.

Yet a week later Ron was telling a thrilling kidnapping story, telling how he had fought fifty heavily armed mermen with his bare hands, who had first forced him into submission before tying him up.

“He thinks he’s Bruce Lee,” Justin Finley whispered to his classmates.

"Who is Bruce Lee?" a student with a wizarding background asked curiously.

“Bruce Lee,” Justin shook his head and sighed, “he’s a very tough guy. He can fight a hundred fishmen with his bare hands—very tough.”

"That's really impressive," the students said in unison.

Since Ron became famous, he has become very popular.

Hermione always looked at him helplessly, but she didn't expose Ron's lies.

Giving your child face in public is also a part of life.

Harry was also very busy; he was busy persuading Vivi not to kill that audacious Fleur.

“Oh, really?” Vivi asked Harry with a smile in the office. “It seems you’re still quite fond of her. Look, you’re even starting to defend her. Well… I don’t mind. If you really like her, you can tell me, Harry.”

“How could I!” Harry quickly retorted. “Look at her, she doesn’t have our friendship of so many years, she’s not as good to me as you are, and she’s not as pretty as you… I will always love you, Vivi!”

"Is that so?" A hint of satisfaction flashed in Vivi's eyes. "Although you say that—"

“Of course, I didn’t say that just to spare her life,” Harry said, his survival instincts kicking in. “Look, I’m thinking about your reputation… Think about it, Vivi, if people mistake you for a bloodthirsty Grindelwald like Gellert, will they still support you?”

"How do you know I'm not that kind of Grindelwald?" Vivi asked with a slight smile.

“How could that be!” Harry retorted righteously, “In my heart, you have always been that gentle, bright, kind, and lovely Vivi!”

Cassandra, who was standing at the door, suddenly gagged.

Gentle? Bright? Kind? Cute?
Which of these four words is related to Grindelwald?
Well, men in love are just incomprehensible...

Vivi nodded, acknowledging Harry's assessment of her.

“I have no intention of doing anything to Miss Delacour, Harry,” Vivi said, looking at him with a half-smile. “And you don’t need to be in such a hurry to protect my reputation—or perhaps hers.”

Harry thought to himself, "I don't believe you! You're a wicked old lady!"

But Harry still smiled and said, "I think so too, Vivi—"

Vivi didn't respond to Harry's words, but instead said to him, "We've taken care of Crouch's matter. Now it's time to plan how to get the Godfather into the Ministry of Magic and replace Crouch..."

"How did you find Mr. Crouch?" Harry asked curiously.

“In his house,” Vivi said with a laugh. “He was hit by the Imperius Curse… Isn’t it ridiculous? The Director of International Magical Cooperation at the British Ministry of Magic, a high-ranking official, was attacked in his home and hit with the Imperius Curse… What’s even more ridiculous is that he wasn’t the only one attacked; a senior Auror was also hit by the Imperius Curse…”

"Was it the Death Eaters?" Harry asked warily. "Do they want to take control of the Ministry of Magic through Mr. Crouch?"

“Yes and no,” Vivi said with a slight smile. “You’re only partly right. They didn’t control Mr. Crouch to control the Ministry of Magic… Can you guess why?”

“I can’t guess,” Harry said, spreading his hands in a very nonchalant manner.

“This was found out by the Godfather.” Vivi placed her hands on the table. “It all started with Crouch’s son, Barty Crouch Jr.—a loyal follower of Voldemort and the first person to escape from Azkaban in recent history.”

"The first escapee?" Harry exclaimed in surprise. "Wasn't the first escapee the Godfather? Why is it Barty Crouch Jr.? Wait... could it be Barty Crouch Sr.'s doing?"

“Bingo!” Vivi gave a thumbs up. “You guessed it. I’ve seen Crouch’s memories… It was probably around 1982. Mrs. Crouch’s health deteriorated rapidly due to her son’s imprisonment, and Barty Crouch Jr.’s health also deteriorated due to severe depression caused by prison.”

"Because Barty Crouch Sr. held a high position in the Ministry of Magic, Mrs. Crouch asked him to visit her children. She persuaded her husband to take Polyjuice Potion herself and take her son's place, smuggling him out of Azkaban—she died soon after and was buried outside the castle as Barty Crouch Jr."

“What a great motherly love…” Harry sighed.

Vivi continued, "Old Barty tried to subdue his son, protect his son's secret existence from the public, and prevent him from finding Voldemort—in the end, Old Crouch had to cast the Imperius Curse on him, forcing him to stay hidden in the Invisibility Cloak."

Harry suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

"Wait!" he stood up and said, "Could it be that Barty Crouch Jr. later broke free of the Imperius Curse and turned the tables on Barty Crouch Sr.?"

(End of this chapter)