Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 282, Section 281: Harry, Becomes a Warrior

Naturally, no one would question whether Professor McGonagall has the ability to become a warrior.

The principals of the three schools were not allowed to be heroes, but the vice principals were not included. Every professor was required to submit a slip of paper with their name on it.

Professor McGonagall's selection as a champion naturally drew the loudest cheers from the Gryffindor students, but the Ravenclaws were the only ones with their eyes fixed on Harry and Professor Flitwick, praying that their Head of House would be selected as a champion.

The hope of the entire school, though not a student warrior, is still a Ravenclaw member—please, Headmaster! Become a warrior!

Crack!

The Goblet of Fire spewed flames once more, and a piece of parchment, still slightly hot, landed in Harry's hand.

"Hogwarts' second Professor of Warriors is—Professor Flitwick!"

Screams.

The Ravenclaws finally breathed a sigh of relief. Many of the eaglets were patting their chests in relief, and some were even hugging each other in excitement.

Six spots! Ravenclaw hasn't been completely left out after all. Great, fantastic! There's nothing better than this.

Yes, Ravenclaws do present themselves as aloof and focused solely on knowledge, seemingly unconcerned with trivial matters. However, this does not mean they are indifferent to everything. For things or objects that are truly important, Ravenclaws will often use various means to achieve or obtain them.

Here's a joke that's not really a joke: the majority of the prisoners in Azkaban didn't come from Slytherin, but from Ravenclaw—and many of them were there for economic crimes or by exploiting legal loopholes.

The laws of the magical world are indeed often vague, but vagueness doesn't mean it's easy to find loopholes, because vagueness means that you can be arrested on any pretext.

In short, the proud young eagles simply couldn't imagine how they would be ridiculed if, after the six champions were freshly selected, not a single one of them had any connection to Raven House, or how arrogant those Slytherin snakes would look on their faces, not to mention the Gryffindors who were always so high-profile.

But it is different now.

They have a savior.

"Is everything alright, Professor Flitwick?" Harry asked the white-haired professor.

Putting everything else aside, Professor Flitwick is indeed a bit too old. Even Professor McGonagall isn't all white-haired. Although Flitwick won the Wizarding Duel Championship when he was young, he's old after all, with frail arms and legs. Harry is genuinely a little worried.

“Of course,” Professor Flitwick himself seemed quite relaxed, patting his chest as he said, “Don’t worry, Harry, I will bring the trophy back to Hogwarts.”

"Safety first." Harry nodded slightly and caught the last piece of paper that the Goblet of Fire sprayed out. But this time he didn't read it aloud immediately. Instead, he stared at the paper with wide eyes and remained silent for a long time.

"Professor? Shout it out! Who is the last Professor Warrior?!"

"We can't wait any longer!"

Fred stood up abruptly from his chair and shouted, looking impatient.

"The last hero of the Hogwarts professors' group was... Harry Potter."

Still looking confused, Harry was certain that the name on the piece of paper was his.

Hogwarts

Harry Potter

The auditorium was completely silent. Everyone already knew the rules of the three-way competition: the principals of the three schools could not register; they could only serve as judges to score the warriors' performances.

So here's the question: why was Harry's name spat out by the Goblet of Fire?
Gradually, a round of applause suddenly rang out in the auditorium, and this applause quickly spread into enthusiastic applause and cheers, with some students even shouting:

"Principal Potter is a warrior! We've got this! We've got this!!"

For ordinary students, they didn't care about any of that; all they knew was that Harry's magical abilities were very strong, and now that Harry had become a hero of Hogwarts—wasn't Hogwarts guaranteed to win?!
But this is not so friendly to people from other schools.

"Why did you become a warrior, Principal Potter?!" Karkaroff exclaimed angrily. "This isn't fair! It's unreasonable! And Crouch? Yes, Crouch! You allowed this kind of rule-breaking to happen?!"

Ms. Maxim's expression was also a bit unpleasant, but she didn't say much.

“Calm down, Karkaroff.” Harry glanced at Karkaroff and calmly showed the parchment in his hand, “This isn’t my handwriting.”

“I think the most important thing now is to get to that room first,” Dumbledore said suddenly, standing next to Harry. “This is still the Great Hall, and the children are still downstairs.”

There are some things that children really shouldn't know.

Amid the cheers of the students, Harry smiled and waved in response before walking into the Great Hall cubicle where the other champions would go.

The room wasn't very big; after being crammed with eighteen warriors, it felt a bit cramped, not to mention Dumbledore and his group, Crouch, and Bagman who followed closely behind.

"Professor Potter?" Professor McGonagall asked, somewhat surprised. "What happened? Why are you all—"

"Something has really happened, Professor McGonagall!" Karkaroff interrupted Professor McGonagall, his face contorted with rage. "Principal Potter has become a warrior! He's become a warrior! How can this be?!"

“This is indeed somewhat unfair to us.” As the headmistress of Beauxbatons, even if Madam Maxim admired Harry, she had to uphold her school’s position at this time. “Besides, it violates the rules; our headmistress should not allow him to participate.” “Uh, I must remind you all that the Goblet of Fire’s flame has gone out,” Ludo Bagman said, scratching his head. “This means that Headmaster Potter has signed a magical contract; he cannot withdraw from the competition, or he will die.”

"Are we just supposed to stand by and watch?" Karkaroff's voice suddenly became slick. "And what about Mr. Crouch? What do you say?"

“We must abide by the charter, which clearly stipulates that anyone whose name comes out of the Goblet of Fire must participate in the tournament,” Crouch said in a hoarse voice.

“Hey, Barty knows the rules by heart,” Bagman breathed a sigh of relief.

"I insist on re-registering," Karkaroff said, his smile gone and his voice no longer the same. His face grim. "You must reignite the Goblet of Fire, but this time, Ms. Maxim and I will also add our names."

"Excuse my bluntness, Karkaroff," Snape, who had followed him in, suddenly said dismissively, "Even if you added your own name, it would be difficult for you to be chosen as a champion."

"What did you say?!" Karkaroff turned around and glared at Snape.

“But Karkaroff, once the Goblet of Fire goes out, it can only be reignited during the next tournament—we can’t make it burn ahead of time.”

"So we're just going to watch Hogwarts cheat? If that's the case, Durmstrang will never participate in the next World's Championship!" Karkaroff roared. "Despicable! Shameless! Using such despicable means—!"

“Durmstrong doesn’t need to participate,” Harry said coldly. “And you don’t need to throw a tantrum here either, Karkaroff. There are plenty of magic schools in the world—besides, you can’t leave now, and Durmstrong’s champions have also signed a magical contract.”

After Harry overwhelmed Karkaroff with his imposing presence, he looked around, raised the piece of paper in his hand, and said, "I swear to you all that I have never put my name into the Goblet of Fire, and the handwriting on this piece of paper is completely different from my own, as can be proven by my past correspondence."

“Who knows?” Karkaroff muttered. “You could just have your people write it down and submit it themselves.”

“I’m sorry, that won’t do, Karkaroff,” Dumbledore said suddenly. “The Goblet of Fire will only be chosen from those who volunteer and put their own names on it. This is to prevent some students from putting other people’s names on their own, which could lead to the tragic death of someone who is not prepared. This has happened before, and this restriction has been added to the Goblet of Fire ever since.”

Karkaroff opened his mouth, but for a moment he didn't know where to begin.

Just then, Lupin suddenly pushed open the door and walked in, carrying the Goblet of Fire in his hands.

"Gentlemen," Lupin said solemnly, "after careful examination, I have discovered that the Goblet of Fire has been enchanted with a powerful Confusion Charm. It is this Confusion Charm that makes it ignore Principal Potter's identity as headmaster and also makes it ignore the fact that this parchment was not put into it by him."

“Aha! I knew it!” Karkaroff snapped his fingers, as if he had suddenly found a target. “You cast a Confusion Charm on it, didn’t you? It’s right here, in the foyer. You have one night—”

"Shut up, Karkaroff!" Snape threatened, his face full of annoyance. "Has your head been taken over by a troll? Can't you see that someone is plotting to kill Harry Potter?! What the hell did you come to Hogwarts for?!"

Snape's gaze was like a knife cutting into Karkaroff, burning him intensely—he had reason to suspect Karkaroff and wouldn't believe him just because Karkaroff wanted to escape the fact that Voldemort had resurrected.

What if Karkaroff has secretly defected to Voldemort?
Harry's unexpected selection as a champion and the powerful Confusion Charm cast on the Goblet of Fire were, in Snape's eyes, irrefutable evidence that someone was plotting to harm Lily's child, and he would not allow it!

He must attack Karkarov immediately!
Karkaroff was speechless; his face turned as red as if it were on fire.

"Excuse me for speaking frankly," Crouch suddenly said, "but in terms of the bylaws and rules, Hogwarts and Headmaster Potter have not actually violated any rules."

"What?" Karkaroff's eyes widened.

“Because while being the headmaster of Hogwarts, Headmaster Potter is also the only professor of Shamanism in the wizarding world,” Crouch’s voice was a little hoarse as he calmly explained, “which means he is also a professor at Hogwarts, meeting the requirements for the professor group in this Triwizard Tournament.”

"How...how could this be?" Karkarov stammered, as if the plot of a third-rate villain had been exposed.

The small room fell silent. No one spoke, and the chosen student warriors dared not speak either. They had a general idea of ​​what was happening, and their joy at becoming warriors had faded considerably.

“Alright, let’s leave it at that,” Ms. Maxim said suddenly. “Since Principal Potter is also responsible for teaching a course, this doesn’t really violate the rules—the only problem is that we’ll probably have to choose another judge.”

Madam Maxim's gaze fell on Dumbledore.

"Dumbledore," said Ms. Maxim. "Mr. Crouch, Mr. Bagman, as the headmaster of Beauxbatons, I only recognize Dumbledore as the new judge, and I believe he can give a fair evaluation."

“If you don’t mind,” Dumbledore shrugged slightly.

“…Alright, I have no objection.” Karkaroff’s face was still as bad as ever, but no one cared about his opinion now.

"Is that all?" Bagman rubbed his hands together, looking relieved.

As the new director of the Department of Sports and Recreation, Ludo Bagman did not want his first major undertaking to end in unexpected failure.

"Very well, shall we continue? Battier, it's time to give our warriors some pointers, isn't it?"

“…Alright,” Crouch said, still expressionless. “The first challenge is to test your courage. Eighteen warriors, never before has there been so many warriors in the Triwizard Tournament, from students to professors—the first challenge will be dangerous, washing away the cowardly warriors among you, especially those who are just there to fill the ranks.”

"Therefore, we will not tell you the specifics of the first project. Even though the projects that student warriors and professor warriors will face are different, they are the same in this respect."

"The courage to face the unknown is an important quality that wizard warriors should possess, especially since this competition will be open to Muggles. We will not allow anyone to disgrace the wizarding profession."

"The first project will be held on November 24th, which is the end of this month, and will be completed in front of other students and the judging panel."

Crouch was very serious, and his words represented Scrimgeour's attitude, or rather, the attitude of the vast majority of wizards in the wizarding world—that Muggles should never be allowed to underestimate wizards.

(End of this chapter)