Harry returns from Hogwarts Legacy

Chapter 288 Harry: Jealous Vivi is so cute (10000 words)
What should I do?
Vivi had already planned this out, and after Dumbledore asked the question, she immediately replied, "The plan is to have Barty continue to play Moody, while we monitor him from the sidelines, so that Voldemort will think that nothing has been exposed."

“A good plan,” Dumbledore nodded. “Then, what if Voldemort discovers Barty’s memories?”

“We can erase Barty’s memory of all this,” Vivi said. “That way, Voldemort won’t find out—and we won’t have to rack our brains to prevent Barty from being exposed. What do you think, Professor?”

“Yes,” Dumbledore nodded, then glanced at Harry and asked, “So… what do you plan to do in the end?”

“Oh,” Harry said. “To be honest, I don’t mind being teleported to Voldemort’s side. I’m actually more curious about where Voldemort gets the courage to face me again.”

Upon hearing this, Dumbledore fell silent.

Yes, he certainly knew that the Harry Potter in front of him was not a normal fourth-grade student.

He was a legendary wizard from a hundred years ago, a legendary wizard with countless spirit rings on his wand!
“However, I advise you not to let your guard down,” Vivi reminded him from the side. “Why not try a different approach? Since Riddle is prepared to face you head-on, he must have plenty of confidence… As far as I know, Riddle has a great fear of death, and he wouldn’t do this unless he was absolutely certain.”

That's very true, after all, everyone knows that Voldemort was terrified of death.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to make so many Horcruxes.

“To be honest, death is just another great adventure,” Dumbledore shrugged. “I said that back when Harry was a freshman—”

“Yes.” Harry looked up. “You did tell me, and you even used the Flamels as an example.”

Upon hearing the names of the Lemaîtres and Flamel, Dumbledore's expression suddenly turned strange.

Yes, the Lemaîtres...

Initially, it was thought that the Flamels intended to destroy the Philosopher's Stone and then happily face their deaths, so Dumbledore naturally used the couple as an example to educate Harry.

But the problem is, they suddenly don't want to die anymore...

This is a bit embarrassing.

As for the reason, Dumbledore guessed it might be because the pair of computers Harry brought to the Flamels had successfully dispelled their thoughts of being tired of living.

There are still so many mysteries in the wizarding world waiting for them to explore, and so many games to play. How can they just die like this?

“Of course, our immediate priority is this person in front of us.” Harry lowered his head again and kicked Barty Jr. in the face.

Under the mind control of the Soul-Stealing Curse, Little Barty blankly lifted his eyelids, but quickly lowered them again.

He controlled Little Barty, took out a bottle from his pocket, and took a big gulp of the compound decoction.

A short while later, he transformed back into Moody's appearance.

“Oh, compound decoction.” Sirius’s expression suddenly turned strange. “Then the question is, where did he get the raw materials for the compound decoction?”

No one spoke; they all turned their eyes toward Professor Snape's office.

"Poor snotty-nosed guy," Sirius said regretfully. "He must be frantic right now. Given his stingy nature, he must be devastated to have his materials stolen."

“Then they’ll pass the buck to Harry.” Lupin winked at Harry, who looked at him with a puzzled expression, and explained with a smile, “Oh, you don’t need to doubt it, Harry. Snotty used to like to pass the buck to James like that.”

“Alright.” Harry nodded. “Should we tell Professor Snape about this? I think it’s better for him to know. After all, I don’t want some Gryffindor student to be interrogated because of his suspicions, and then Gryffindor loses a few dozen points.”

Dumbledore felt that Harry's concerns were valid, and given that Snape was an excellent master of Occlumency, it was understandable that he would tell him about this.

Moreover, Snape was considered "Dumbledore's man".

Upon learning that the person who had been stealing his potion ingredients was Barty the Younger, now disguised as Moody, Snape once again displayed that extremely disgusted expression.

“Look at his expression,” Harry muttered to Vivi, “It looks like he’s swallowed several pounds of slugs.”

“No,” Vivi said in a low voice, “I think his expression is like he’s looking at your father.”

Harry: ...

Is my dad more disgusting than a slug?
Well, if it were Snape, it wouldn't be a problem.

"So this is your grand plan?" Professor Snape, having finished his scathing critique, began to criticize Dumbledore. "I really shouldn't have had any expectations of you. My potion ingredients are crying! They've been..."

"We'll reimburse you double for your potion ingredients, Professor Snape," Vivi said promptly.

"It was used in the right place," Professor Snape said, changing the subject.

After learning the whole story, Professor Snape no longer resisted.

Everything was for the purpose of eliminating Voldemort, the murderer of Lily. In any case, Snape felt that some necessary sacrifices were worthwhile.

It's just a matter of sacrificing some potion ingredients...

This is both sufficient and necessary.

"Oh, right," Dumbledore suddenly remembered, "What about Alastor? What did you do to the real Alastor?"

A sinister smile appeared on Little Barty's face.

"We subdued him—he was an old Auror after all, and it took some effort to deal with him… We prepared Polyjuice Potion beforehand and went to his house together. Moody fought back fiercely, making quite a commotion. Of course, we managed to subdue him in time, pushed him into the dark chamber of his own magic box, plucked a few of his hairs, and added them to the potion. I drank the potion, transformed into Moody, and took his wooden leg and magical eyes."

"This is also part of our plan. My master told me that he needs to place a trusted confidant in Hogwarts, not only to keep track of Harry Potter's movements in real time, but also to monitor Dumbledore's whereabouts... As my master's most loyal servant, I certainly wouldn't refuse this opportunity."

“After that,” Barty sniffed, “I packed Moody’s clothes and the Dark Magic Detector, put them in a trunk with Moody, and set off for Hogwarts. I cast the Imperius Curse on him, but it didn’t kill him. I needed to ask him questions, to learn about his past, his habits, so that even Dumbledore wouldn’t find out. I also needed his hair to make Polyjuice Potion—the other ingredients were easy to get; I stole African snake skin from the underground classrooms. When that stupid traitor Snape found me in his office, I said I was there on orders to search.”

Upon hearing the unpleasant words "idiot traitor," Snape's dark eyes deepened, even becoming somewhat sinister and terrifying.

No one can remain unmoved by being insulted to their face, not even Snape.

“Then,” Dumbledore asked again, “where is he now? I mean, Alastor Moody, where is he?”

“There.” Little Barty, in his Moody form, pointed to the box not far away.

Dumbledore stepped forward, but was stopped by Snape.

Snape carefully took out his wand and flicked it at the large box.

The box was immediately opened, and the layers were stacked up, just like Russian nesting dolls.

When the last chest was opened, Dumbledore called out, "Alastor? Alastor? Are you in there?"

"Dumbledore?"

A weary voice rang out; it belonged to Moody himself.

Dumbledore went closer and found that Moody was indeed lying at the bottom of the box.

They rescued the real Moody and told him the whole truth.

“I need you to understand, Alastor,” Dumbledore said sternly, “that we can’t get you out of here right now, so you’ll have to stay in the box for a while longer.”

“Oh, I’ve gotten used to life in the box,” Moody said with a touch of humor. “So can you guarantee that we can eventually defeat that dark wizard and thwart his plans?”

“You should know, Alastor,” Dumbledore said, “that Voldemort has many Horcruxes. We can’t defeat him all at once, but we can certainly thwart his plans.”

Upon hearing Dumbledore's words, Moody agreed to the request without the slightest hesitation.

“I'm in.”

“We will ensure your safety,” Vivi said from the side. “You can rest assured.”

"Who is this...?" Moody obviously didn't know who Vivi was, but he felt that this person looked somewhat familiar.

“Oh,” Dumbledore said with a start. “Let me introduce you. This is Ms. Villatia Grindelwald, the Undersecretary of the German Ministry of Magic and Director of the Department of International Magical Cooperation.”

Moody hadn't reacted much at first, but when he heard Grindelwald's name, he suddenly opened his eyes.

He carefully examined Vivi's face with his single eye, then looked at Harry, but ultimately said nothing.

“If you don’t mind,” he said to those around him, “I need to go back and rest for a while—so, Dumbledore, erase this part of my memory for now. I don’t want your brilliant plan to be exposed when the Dark Lord tries to extract my mind.”

This statement was somewhat sarcastic, and Moody even emphasized the word "genius".

Dumbledore stepped forward, picked out the memories related to Moody, and placed them in the Pensieve for safekeeping.

Then he threw Moody back into the box, not forgetting to add a limited amount of "forget everything".

After doing all that, they left the Defense Against the Dark Arts office, and thoughtfully erased Barty's memories again.

After dealing with Barty Crouch Jr. and Moody, Vivi and Dumbledore went to deal with Barty Crouch Sr.

Harry didn't participate; he had to go to his Magical Creatures Protection class later.

Besides, he's not interested in politics at all; he'd rather spend that time playing Quidditch.

Newt has been at Hogwarts lately, so he's still teaching the Magical Creatures Protection class.

A few days later, Newt seemed to have come up with something new. He was standing outside the cabin waiting for his classmates, with some open cardboard boxes at his feet that they had never seen before.

When the students saw the cardboard box, their hearts sank – could it be that another nest of tadpole snails had hatched?
However, upon closer inspection of the box, one discovers it contains many furry black creatures with long, duck-like noses and flat, shovel-like front paws, which are quite peculiar.

They looked up and blinked at the whole class, seemingly a little confused by the attention of so many people.

“Oh, that’s great,” Ron said happily. “It’s not a Bombtail—it’s a Niffler.”

As a child born into a pure-blooded family, he certainly knew the Niffler—not just knew them, he had seen quite a few.

“These are Nifflers,” Newt and the other classmates gathered around, and Newt, head bowed, picked up a Niffler and introduced it to everyone, “Nifflers are…”

As soon as he said that word, Newt stopped talking and said again, "I think it's more in line with the way we teach, to have a student answer the question. Don't you agree? So... who's willing to answer this question?"

Hermione raised her hand high.

Miss Know-It-All's abilities...

“Miss Granger,” Newt called out Hermione’s name, “Alright, you answer this question.”

Hermione cleared her throat and replied, “The Niffler is a burrowing animal native to England. You see, it’s covered in black fur, has a long snout, and has a particular fondness for anything shiny—monsters often keep Nifflers to dig up treasures deep underground.”

Seeing Newt nod at her, Hermione added, "Although Nifflers are gentle and can even be affectionate towards you at times, they can damage your belongings, so never keep one at home."

“But we usually see them underground in the mines,” she concluded.

“Well said, ten points for Gryffindor.” Newt clapped his hands happily. “I need to reiterate that they love all things shiny… Look, look.”

He pointed to the side where the Slytherin students were, and a Niffler suddenly leaped up, trying to bite off Pansy Parkinson's watch.

Pansy screamed and backed away, waving her hands wildly in an attempt to scare away the sniffler that lunged at her.

“A very useful little treasure hunt tool, isn’t it?” Newt said happily. “I think you guys have been under a lot of pressure from your studies lately, so I decided to come up with some new and interesting little courses to lighten the mood… See that land over there?”

He pointed to the large patch of newly turned soil: "Hagrid helped you turn it over. I had him bury a few gold coins in there—whoever picks a Niffler and digs up the most gold coins will get a prize. Take off all your valuables, then pick a Niffler, get ready, and release them."

Finally, Newt added, "Remember to take all your valuables off your person, otherwise they'll just keep staring at your things and won't go looking for treasure."

Harry took off the watch Vivi had given him and put it in his pocket; he couldn't let the Niffler take it away.

However, speaking of stealing Grindelwald's things...

It seems that Professor Scamander once used the Niffler to steal the blood pact between Dumbledore and Grindelwald.

With that in mind, he picked a Niffler.

It stuck its long nose into Harry's ear and sniffed it eagerly.

"This little thing is quite affectionate with people." Harry chuckled and reached out to pet the Niffler's body. It felt very nice, a bit like a cat with stiff fur. When Harry touched its legs, the Niffler would kick hard a couple of times, which was quite amusing.

"Hey, wait a minute?" Hagrid suddenly interrupted their petting of the Niffler. He looked down into the box. "There's one Niffler left... Who's missing? Are we missing someone from class?"

“It’s Seamus,” Neville said from the side. “He blew up Professor Snape’s Potions classroom this morning, and he seems to be cleaning it up now, or maybe he’s being punished by Professor Snape.”

Upon hearing Neville's words, everyone present burst into laughter.

They witnessed Seamus blasting the Potions classroom in its entirety. No one knew how Seamus did it, but everyone could see that Professor Snape looked terrible, as if he had eaten something indigestible and hadn't had a bowel movement for days.

It must be said that this was the most fun lesson they had taken in years on protecting amazing creatures.

The Nifflers they chose burrowed in and out of the field as if they were in water, each one rushing to the classmate who released them and spitting out gold coins into their hands.

Ron reaped a great harvest, and his thighs were soon piled high with gold coins.

"Could we buy them as pets, Professor Scamander?"

Ron asked excitedly, just as his sniffle plunged headfirst into the dirt again, splashing dirt all over his robe.

But this didn't dampen Ron's spirits at all; this Niffler was much cuter than the owl, or even his previous mouse.

"Whoosh!" Ron exclaimed excitedly, shaking his thigh as the gold coins on it rattled.

“I don’t think your mother will be happy, Ron,” Newt said to Ron with a smile, his head down. “The Sniffers are animals that will destroy houses in search of shiny things.”

“Oh, that’s not necessarily true, Professor,” Draco’s signature hoarse voice chimed in from the side. “The Weasleys don’t have anything valuable. Even a beggar would leave a few bronze knuckles, let alone a Niffler…”

"Malfoy!" Ron drew his wand, glaring angrily at the foul-mouthed Draco.

Newt pressed down on Ron's wand, deducting two points from Slytherin's score. "Two points deducted from Slytherin," he said. "Well, we shouldn't comment on other people's families anyway, hmm... I think the Nifflers have done enough."

As he spoke, Newt walked around on that patch of ground, while the Nifflers burrowed in and out of the soil.

"I only buried one hundred gold coins, that should be enough now."

Dean Thomas's voice suddenly rang out.

"Oh, look who's here! Isn't this the valiant demolition expert, Seamus?"

Seamus walked across the lawn toward them, his face and body wrapped in thick bandages, looking like a mummy and rather pitiful.

“Oh, I suspect he’s an Egyptian mummy.” Draco couldn’t resist his witty remark, stretching out his hands in the classic mummy pose: “He’s going to bite! Run!”

His comical appearance caused a burst of laughter from those around him.

Seamus's face was bright red. He sniffed and forced himself not to look at Draco, lest he raise his hand and give him a thunderous explosion.

“Alright, let me see how you’ve done!” Newt said. “Count your coins! — You can’t steal them, Goyle.”

As he spoke, Newt kept his head down, avoiding eye contact with anyone, looking extremely socially awkward: "These are the goblin's coins; they'll disappear in a few hours."

Gore reluctantly put the gold coins down; he had originally planned to use them to buy something delicious.

Newt stepped forward and carefully counted the gnome coins his classmates had won. He finished counting them in no time, and Ron's Niffler ultimately won first place.

“Congratulations,” Newt said, pulling a small gold Niffler badge from his pocket. “This is yours as a reward for winning this competition… Actually, I think you have a talent for getting along with magical creatures. Would you be interested in learning how to take care of magical creatures from me?”

“No, thank you.” Ron took the small gold badge, looking at it happily as he shook his head. “I don’t think I’m suited to taking care of others. To paraphrase my mother, ‘Look, Ronald, I think it’s the magical creatures who should take care of you.’”

“It’s not necessarily that bad. You’ll only truly appreciate their wonder after you come into contact with magical creatures,” Newt said sincerely.

For a moment, Ron was genuinely tempted, but the thought of those strangely shaped, flaming snails instantly dampened his enthusiasm.

“Forget it,” he said, waving his hand. “I’d rather go to Romania and keep Charlie company while he deals with the dragon.”

“But you also know that dragons are a type of magical creature.” Harry found a loophole in Ron’s words.

Ron was stunned; he hadn't expected his good friend to betray him.

“But I wouldn’t mind having a Niffler,” he muttered. “They’re just so adorable…”

“How about this,” Newt suddenly said, “if you’re willing to work with me on a magical creatures-related project after graduation, I’ll give you a whole litter of Nifflers.”

“Then I’d rather not.” Ron firmly said no to this unhealthy temptation.

As for the Sniffer, you can catch one yourself in the future, or buy one somewhere.

But if you ask him to give up his freedom for the Niffler, he really can't do it.

“By the way, Professor Scamander,” Hermione suddenly said, “did you ever do something bad to Mr. Grindelwald with your Niffler? I seem to remember reading about it somewhere…”

“Oh, you mean this?” Newt suddenly looked up at Hermione, then glanced around at his classmates, before looking down again and saying, “It’s not a big deal, really. It’s just that some of his dark magic items… those items restricted Professor Dumbledore, preventing him from attacking him… so I had the Niffler steal it while he was giving a speech at Père Lachaise Cemetery, and then… you see, Professor Dumbledore defeated the dark wizard Grindelwald in 1945. It’s written on the Chocolate Frog cards.”

"Do you know what the relationship was between Miss Grindelwald of Slytherin and Mr. Grindelwald?" Lavender Brown asked gossipily from the side.

“They are siblings,” Newt answered truthfully, as he was never good at lying. “Miss Grindelwald is the older sister, and Mr. Grindelwald is the younger brother.”

In English, siblings are not distinguished by age, which is why Newt later used the terms "older" and "younger" to differentiate them.

Upon hearing Professor Scamander's words, everyone's first reaction was to burst into laughter.

Miss Grindelwald, is Mr. Grindelwald's sister?
Are you kidding...

“Professor, that’s the funniest joke I’ve ever heard,” Daphne Greengrass said, wiping away her tears. “Miss Grindelwald just graduated from Hogwarts this year. She’s only seventeen. How could she possibly be Grindelwald’s sister? Let alone his older sister… You might as well say she’s Mr. Grindelwald’s junior. That would sound much more plausible.”

“Okay, I knew you wouldn’t believe me anyway,” Newt said, head down. “But that’s basically how it is…”

After class, the students chatted and laughed about what Newt had just said.

No one really believed Newt's story that Miss Grindelwald was Mr. Grindelwald's sister; everyone treated it as a joke.

"I never expected that Professor Scamander, who is always so serious, would actually like to joke around with everyone," Lavender said with a grin.

But Hermione didn't laugh. Of course she knew the truth—Vivi really was Mr. Grindelwald's older sister, born of the same mother, and raised by her own hands.

When Harry returned to the Great Hall, he received a message from Vivi, which basically said that Crouch had been dealt with and that Mr. Crouch was now "firmly on our side".

Actually, it's not hard to understand. As someone who is very ambitious for official positions, Old Bati would never accept being dismissed from his post because of certain things.

Even if I don't become Minister of Magic, keeping my current position is better than anything else.

Harry was quite happy about this good news.

In fact, as usual, the start of the summer term meant that Harry would have to train intensively with the Quidditch team to prepare for the last Quidditch match of the season.

However, this year, Quidditch was canceled due to the Triwizard Tournament, and he also had to prepare for the third and final event of the Triwizard Tournament.

However, the third competition was different from the second; there were no clues for them to actively explore.

Harry didn't bother to ask; the professors would always let him know when the time was right.

As the days went by, Harry spent most of his free time in the library, trying to find a way to rescue Anne.

But just like a hundred years ago, he still gained nothing.

or……

He wondered to himself, "Should I go check out Durmstrang's library? After all, they don't forbid students from studying dark magic there. Gellert was a top student who honed his skills at Durmstrang back then."

The more he thought about it, the more reliable it seemed, so he told Vivi about it over the phone.

“Oh, you mean Anne?” Vivi said. “I don’t think Durmstrang has a suitable solution either, but I do have a preliminary idea.”

"What are your thoughts?" Harry asked curiously.

“Hmm…” Vivi thought for a moment and said to Harry, “Perhaps we can use Horcruxes.”

“Hordeal?” Harry said in shock. “Sebastian did think of that before, don’t you remember what we did? We beat him to his knees and made him promise never to think of such an evil method again…”

“Relax, baby,” Vivi said with a slight smile. “Of course I know that, but you must have misunderstood me. My idea is to use Voldemort’s Horcruxes to absorb the dark magic curse on Annie…”

"Are you absolutely sure?" Harry asked cautiously.

“No,” Vivi shook her head and said, “It’s just an idea of ​​mine. It might succeed, or it might not.”

Harry took a deep breath.

He couldn't help but complain: "Why don't you just say that you have two trees planted in front of your house, one is a jujube tree, and the other is also a jujube tree?"

“We can conduct experiments,” Vivi said with a smile. “For example… we could inflict a curse on someone, and then test it on a Horcrux from Voldemort… I think that’s a great idea, don’t you think?”

"Who should be cursed?" Harry looked at Vivi cautiously, feeling that Vivi was about to target someone extraordinary.

“Barty Crouch Jr., huh?” Vivi was still smiling. “Once the Triwizard Tournament is over, Barty Crouch Jr. will be useless… Well… but I promised Mr. Crouch that Barty would find a witch to carry on the Crouch family bloodline first, and then we can do whatever we want with him.”

"You just agreed to Barty's offer?" Harry asked in surprise. "Good heavens, I always thought you wouldn't be coerced..."

Vivi smiled happily upon hearing Harry's innocent words.

"Hahahaha... You really think he can coerce me? It's just that I pity his family's ancient heritage... Of course, I suggest Mr. Crouch find a Veela, after all, magical creatures and humans can be brought together by spells... You know what I mean."

“The adult world is so complicated,” Harry read aloud, his face expressionless.

Harry and Vivi chatted until midnight, agreeing to meet again for the third competition before reluctantly ending the call.

After the Transfiguration class ended on the afternoon of the second day, Harry was unexpectedly stopped by Professor McGonagall.

“Porter, you go to the Quidditch pitch down there at nine o’clock tonight,” Professor McGonagall told him. “Mr. Bagman will be there to tell the warriors what the third project is.”

“Yes, Professor,” Harry replied obediently.

So, at 8:30 that evening, Harry read for a while in the common room and then went downstairs.

As he walked through the foyer, Viktor was emerging from the Slytherin common room.

“What do you think it could be?” Viktor asked Harry as they walked down the stone steps and disappeared into the overcast night. “Fleur kept talking about the underground tunnels, and to be honest, I couldn’t quite understand her accent… If I’m not mistaken, she thinks we’re looking for treasure.”

"That would be pretty good. If it really comes down to finding treasure, I can ask Professor Scamander from the Magical Creatures Protection Class for a Niffler and leave the treasure hunt to it."

“That is indeed a brilliant idea, Harry.” Viktor seemed delighted; he hadn’t expected such a method either. Harry’s words had truly opened a new world for him.

They walked along the dark grass towards the Quidditch pitch, then entered through a gap between the stands.

"Merlin's fattest T-shirt!" Harry roared, pointing furiously at the drastically altered Quidditch pitch. "What have they done to my beloved Quidditch pitch?!"

The Quidditch pitch was no longer as smooth and flat as before. It looked as if someone had built countless long, low walls here, which were intricate and meandered in all directions.

It's like a maze.

“It’s a wall! Is our last project related to a maze?” Viktor said, crouching down and looking up to carefully examine the low wall closest to him.

As a typical Slavic person, squatting with both feet on the ground was a piece of cake for him.

Perhaps feeling that simply looking wasn't enough, Viktor placed his hand on the wall.

It's quite cool.

"Hello!"

A cheerful voice called out.

Ludo Bagman stood in the center of the field, with the pretty Furong standing next to him.

Viktor stood up and, together with Harry, stepped over the low walls and walked toward them.

As Harry approached, Fleur gave him a radiant smile—her attitude towards him had completely changed ever since Harry had the merman rescue her sister from the lake.

It seemed that Vivi had let the poor girl go, Harry thought to himself.

However, even though Vivi was a little jealous, Harry was still very happy, because that made her seem very cute.

“So, what do you think?” Bagman asked cheerfully as Harry and Viktor scaled the last low wall. “Good progress, isn’t it? In another month, Hagrid will have them twenty feet tall. Don’t worry,” he said, noticing the displeasure on Harry’s face, “once the Wars of Champions is over, your Quidditch pitch will be back to normal! Well, I think you can probably guess what we’re up to here.”

For a moment no one spoke, and then—

“A maze,” Krum said gruffly.

“That’s right!” Bagman said. “It’s a maze. The third project is very simple and straightforward. The Triwizard Tournament Cup is placed in the center of the maze. Whoever is the first to touch it will get full marks.”

"Do we just need to get through the maze?" Hibiscus asked.

“There will be many obstacles,” Bagman said cheerfully, hopping around on his tiptoes. “Newt has provided a whole bunch of animals…and some spells that have to be broken…things like that, you know…and the top scorer gets into the maze first, Harry.”

Bagman smiled at Harry.

"Wait a minute!" Harry suddenly asked, "So here's the question: what was the point of all that effort we put into getting points in the first two exercises?"

“Yes,” Viktor chimed in, “Just to get into the labyrinth first? Then let me ask you, what exactly are the consequences?”

“Mr. Krum’s guess is correct. It is indeed about who enters the maze first for the last project,” Mr. Bagman said helplessly. “In fact, I don’t know what the purpose of this strange rule is, and I don’t think entering the maze first will have any impact.”

He paused for a moment and continued, “In the following order, Mr. Krum will go in next… and Miss Delacour will go in last, but you will all have to fight to succeed, it all depends on your ability to get through the obstacles—it should be a lot of fun, shouldn’t it?”

“It was really fun,” Harry said expressionlessly. “Newt Scamander providing the magical creatures for the last match was really exciting, so much fun!”

“Yes, it is indeed very fun!” Mr. Bagman said happily. “I saw the Blasttail that Hagrid bred there. It is absolutely a genius creation… So, at Dumbledore’s suggestion, the Blasttail was also added to the Maze’s magical creatures sequence.”

“Oh, I really hope that the piles of cockroaches he eats in the future are all real cockroaches,” Harry said through gritted teeth.

He wasn't afraid of the blasting snail itself, but rather its chemical attack...

Just think about it, even if you defeat this creature, it will leave behind that pungent smell that's hard to get rid of even with magic...

It's not very harmful, but extremely insulting.

“Haha, I think so too,” Mr. Bagman said, then added to them, “Very well… if you have no other questions, shall we go back to the castle? It’s a bit cold here…”

Everyone followed Mr. Bagman's advice, since the outside temperature was indeed not very high, and they were not dressed warmly enough, so it was a bit cold.

They stepped over the low wall that was slowly growing upwards and made their way into the castle.

"How's it going?" Mr. Bagman deliberately stayed at the back, walked up to Harry, and asked, "How's the preparation going, Harry? Are you confident?"

“It’s alright,” Harry said after thinking for a moment. “Anyway, you know me, Mr. Bagman, I’ve never felt any pressure.”

“Haha, you really shouldn’t be under pressure.” Mr. Bagman chuckled and patted Harry on the shoulder. “I’ve put some Galleons on you again this time, hoping you can achieve final victory… Thanks to you and Miss Grindelwald, I always feel like I’m rolling in money…”

Finally, Mr. Bagman asked somewhat casually, "By the way, Harry, did Miss Grindelwald mention anything about Mr. Crouch?"

(End of this chapter)