Hogwarts: Harry Returns from Azeroth

Chapter 291, Section 290: The First Match Ends and the Real and Fake Crouch

"First, the soil is transformed into vines, and then the vines are given a metallic component. In this way, these vines become an extremely tough chain that can even bind a fire dragon and prevent it from breaking free—I don't know how difficult this is, but at least I can't do it."

Ludo's voice was very light and cheerful.

"Aha, look! I'm not surprised at all that Professor McGonagall was able to take down this Swedish short-nosed dragon, but I didn't expect it to be so easy. It couldn't even put up a fight before it was tied up like a caterpillar, haha."

Professor McGonagall scored 43 points, one point lower than Professor Durmstrang's Transfiguration, because her performance was not as spectacular as Michael's.

The first match proceeded quickly from morning till night. As the sun completely set and the moon rose, the last warrior, Leon Max, successfully defeated his opponent, a Peruvian venomous dragon, bringing the first match to a perfect close.

Unlike the students, none of the professors' group warriors scored zero points, and they all defeated their respective fire dragons, differing only in the difficulty and time taken.

Wizards either returned to their tents outside the Colosseum to rest or spent the night in their rooms inside the arena, while Muggle spectators who had been invited were escorted back to their homes by Ministry of Magic staff.

"This will absolutely be an unprecedented event," Perrier said earnestly, holding Harry's hand. "I am honored to be a part of such a great cause, and today's match has proven that our predictions were correct."

“Time is a bit too tight,” Harry said, shaking his head slightly.

“After all, it was just a… rehearsal, yes, a rehearsal,” Huck said with a smile. “When we come here again next time, I wonder if Headmaster Potter could show us around Hogwarts properly—my daughter and I are all very curious about magic.”

“Of course,” Harry laughed.

The students probably won't be able to sleep tonight. The lounges in each college are decorated in a dazzling way, and photos of each warrior are plastered all over the lounges, along with photos of the warriors in action during the competition today.

If you look out of the window at the castle, you can see that Beauxbatons' carriages and the large ship moored on the Black Lake are also lit up with many lights, which should also be a celebration.

A beautiful night.

Although as headmaster Harry should not be biased towards any particular house, he was, after all, a student of Gryffindor and still held the status of a student, so he was ultimately invited to the Gryffindor lounge.

The tables and chairs were piled high with cakes, jugs of pumpkin juice and butterbeer filled shelves made with transfiguration, and banners covered the ceiling and walls. They depicted Hermione summoning two elemental giants to beat up a dragon, Harry summoning a volcano, or Professor McGonagall binding the dragon into a ball—all enchanted and animated, allowing people to relive the scene repeatedly.

Lee Jordan, Fred, and George were like madmen, setting off bundles and bundles of fireworks. Countless stars and sparks flashed throughout the lounge, never stopping, and the dissipating smoke gathered into a persistent dark cloud on the ceiling.

The most terrifying thing was that Professor McGonagall didn't stop this behavior at all. Instead, she was happily talking to Percy, pointing at the different patterns of fireworks. Ron thought they were discussing which fireworks were better, but he didn't dare to go over and check.

By the time the celebration banquet reached its second half, Professor McGonagall, who was already slightly drunk, even directed the students to clear out an area in the center of the lounge, and then used Transfiguration to create a miniature version of an erupting volcano—without temperature, just a mere shell.

Even so, the students cheered excitedly.

The only problem was that Harry was a little embarrassed and couldn't sit still, which was somewhat shameful... and most importantly, no one was there to share his shame.

"...Professor...Professor?!" Amidst the commotion, a student shouted at Harry and Professor McGonagall, "So what's inside that golden egg? What's its secret?!"

For today's students, this is the only thing they are most curious about. No one thinks that the Ministry of Magic would put something useless in the dragon's nest and let the heroes steal it. Maybe it contains some crucial clues related to the second game.

“Unfortunately, they changed the course of the last two games when I became a champion, so even I don’t know what secrets this golden egg holds,” Harry said, standing on the table. When he saw a student looking disappointed, he continued, “But I think it’s not too late to explore its secrets together now.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Harry took out his golden egg from his dragon-skin pouch, and Professor McGonagall hesitated for a moment before taking it out as well. Hermione even ran all the way to the dormitory to carry the golden egg out.

There was no need to put in much effort to open the golden egg; the mystery was solved faster than anyone expected. Harry simply pried a neat crack in the middle of the egg with a little force. But instead of opening it directly, he looked at the other two people.

"I'll count to three, and then we'll open it together?"

"no problem."

The students who had gathered at the sound had surrounded Harry and his two companions, all staring nervously at the three golden eggs.

"three."

"two."

"one."

Click.

Without any resistance, the three golden eggs were opened simultaneously.

A bunch of heads immediately crowded around, their eyes wide open, trying to see what was inside.

"A roll of parchment??"

A rolled-up piece of parchment, not very large, was placed in the very center of the golden egg and bound with gold thread.

As soon as the parchment roll was picked up, someone immediately peered into the bottom of the golden egg.

"That's all, just this one piece of paper?" Ron leaned closer. "What's inside? A treasure map?"

"Could it be that the Warriors will have to search for treasure in the Forbidden Forest for the second game?" someone immediately speculated wildly.

Ignoring the students' wild guesses, Harry opened the parchment. The seemingly large parchment contained only one sentence, or more accurately, a spell—the Fireball Charm (Burning Flames).

“And yours?” Harry asked the other two champions.

"Explosion Charm!" Hermione looked puzzled as she showed the parchment in her hand.

Professor McGonagall, the "Smash Curse," also unfolded a parchment.

The students exchanged bewildered glances, their minds racing. "Just a spell?"

The discussion began to heat up.

"What does this mean? Will these spells be used in the second match?"

"It might be a spell used to solve the puzzle! Isn't the Triwizard Tournament supposed to test every warrior in every way, from their combat strength to their intellect? I think the combat strength aspect has already been demonstrated in the Fire Dragon, so the next thing should be their intellect, right?"

It has to be said that this speculation is quite popular, but as for the three parties involved, apart from Hermione becoming obviously nervous, Harry and Professor McGonagall still looked relaxed, sitting on the sofa in the corner with their butterbeers.

Professor McGonagall asked Harry to make a decision about some things that had happened during his time at Hogwarts, which was also part of her duties as headmaster.

It's unclear how long the students from the other houses stayed up, but the Gryffindor students certainly celebrated all night without rest.

By daybreak, the lounge was filled with people lying haphazardly on the tables, chairs, and even the floor, all fast asleep.

Harry wanted to go back to the Great Totem to take a nap, but Rita Skeeter stopped him at the door.

“I have to talk to you, sir!” Rita, her face pale and seemingly having waited for an unknown amount of time, said hurriedly with her head down, her eyes darting around as if afraid of being discovered.

"What happened?" Harry asked, frowning. "I remember the reporters interviewing the Warriors was in the afternoon."

“It’s not about the interview—Oh my God! Please let me in, sir, I need to tell you in a safe place!” Rita stammered, gesturing as if she were a little frightened.

So Harry took Rita into the Great Totem and poured her a cup of hot cocoa.

After taking a few sips from the cup, Rita finally calmed down.

“You don’t look too good,” Harry said after carefully examining Rita. “You look tired, your eyes are sunken, and you have dark circles… Didn’t you get any rest last night?”

“Actually, uh, I’m sorry, sir…” Rita started stammering again, her eyes darting left and right but not daring to look at Harry. “I…you know, ever since you taught me, I have always upheld the principles and…conscience that a true journalist should have.”

“I know, I’ve read your report,” Harry nodded slightly and said, “So you were threatened by someone for telling the truth? Why are you so scared?”

"I, uh, I...you know, it's been a long time since I've written those kinds of articles that are based on hearsay and distort the facts..." Rita stammered, changing the subject, "To be honest, I really like this kind of life now, being able to write articles with a clear conscience and even receive praise from people..."

“Get to the point,” Harry sighed.

“I’m sorry,” Rita apologized immediately. “What I meant was… um, please don’t punish me, uh—although I don’t write those kinds of articles anymore, I still really enjoy… using my… Animagus form… to… observe others…”

Rita's voice grew softer, but Harry's expression grew increasingly stern.

Rita spoke very quickly and in a very soft voice, so quickly that she glossed over many parts, as if afraid that Harry would hear her too clearly.

Unfortunately, Harry still heard it clearly.

This woman no longer writes articles that distort the facts, stir up trouble, slander, or spread rumors about others, but that doesn't mean she's completely settled down. Her habits and hobbies developed over the past few decades still drive her to eavesdrop on other people's hidden secrets.

Utilize her Animagus form.

Uh, eavesdropping, peeping.

The only difference from the past is that Rita won't send out what she's overheard or seen.

Even though she defended herself like that, in Harry's eyes, Rita's behavior was still very bad. But before he could punish this reporter with his peculiar tastes, Rita had already pounced on her chair and knelt down in front of him.

"Please forgive me, sir! I swear I didn't hurt anyone!" Rita cried out in panic. "And it was because of that that I discovered a shocking secret! Crouch is an imposter!!"

Rita's valuable information saved her.

“Go on,” Harry said calmly.

"I originally just wanted to see Crouch, uh, to see if he harbored any ill intentions towards you and wanted revenge. After all, I know someone wanted to harm you. You never intended to become a champion, but someone secretly signed you up. I wanted to see Crouch—but I never expected—I never expected—"

Rita tried her best to make her eavesdropping seem righteous, as if she were doing it for Harry's sake.

"Yes, it's Barty Crouch—he's actually a fake—I mean, the real Crouch is locked up, and Crouch used Polyjuice Potion to look like Crouch!!"

"Crouchie became Crouch?" Harry said, speechless. "Don't you want to listen to what you're saying?"

“No, sir, it’s not the same!” Rita finally managed to clear her throat. “It’s Crouch Jr.! Crouch Jr. isn’t dead! He used Polyjuice Potion to transform himself into his father’s likeness!! The Crouch you’ve seen all this time is Crouch Jr.!!!”

Harry became serious.

“It’s true!” Rita shouted, nearly losing control. “I’m sure it was old Crouch! He was in the box! Little Crouch pulled him out and plucked a few strands of his hair. When old Crouch tried to say something, he was punched! He passed out!”

“I understand,” Harry said, standing up. “After you finish this cocoa, you can rest on the sofa. I’ll take care of the rest.”

Harry walked quickly, only turning back when they were almost out of the Great Totem and saying, "By the way, although your behavior is still quite egregious, you did do a good job this time... If Crouch's actions are indeed found to be false after verification, I won't punish you this time—but there won't be a next time, understand?"

Rita nodded so fast that her image blurred.

Harry S. Lissinta was telling the truth, because the journalist had completely sided with him and had no reason to lie to him.

(End of this chapter)