From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 321 Opening

"what's wrong?"

The three warriors' hands holding the cups stopped in the air. Fleur shook her long silver hair, turned her head, and asked Harry, "Do they want us to go back to the hall?"

Obviously, Fleur thought Harry was here to deliver a message, and Harry didn't know how to explain everything, so he just stood there awkwardly.

However, the awkwardness did not last long, as a chaotic sound of footsteps was heard outside the door again.

Ludo Bagman burst into the room, seized Harry's arm and dragged him forward. "This is freakish! ... I never heard of anything like it! Gentlemen and ladies ... are you having a little celebration? I don't recall there being any chairs in this room ..."

The former Wasps batsman saw the goblets in the hands of the three warriors and the soft, cushy armchairs beneath them.

"Never mind that." Ivy took a sip of her wine. "Let's talk about Harry. Why did you bring him in?"

"Ah! Yes! I was just about to introduce you to him!" Ludo Bagman and Harry (very reluctantly) took a few steps closer to the fireplace. "It may seem incredible, but this is the fourth contestant in the Triwizard Tournament."

A gloomy look appeared on Krum's face, and he looked Harry up and down, as if measuring his magical level.

Fleur, however, did not take Ludo Bagman's words seriously at all. She tossed her long silver hair and smiled. "Well, I admit that this joke is funny, Mr. Bagman."

"No, no! This is not a joke!" Bagman's surprised look had not faded. "Harry's name just came out of the Goblet of Fire. It was read out by Dumbledore himself. The other judges have confirmed it."

"Obviously something went wrong." Furong placed the goblet in her hand on the small wine table and stood up proudly. "He can't participate in the competition. He is too young."

"That's really surprising," Bagman stroked his smooth chin. He had obviously shaved off his beard in preparation for the opening ceremony of the Triwizard Tournament. "But everyone knows that the age limit is a safety measure proposed this year. There was no such rule in previous tournaments... I think that since Harry's name has been splashed out of the Goblet of Fire, he is not allowed to escape... The rules are clearly written and must be followed. Harry must do his best to win the Triwizard Tournament trophy..."

The door behind Harry and Bagman opened again, and a large group of people poured in: Headmaster Dumbledore, Deputy Headmistress McGonagall, Potions Professor Mrs. White, Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor Snape, and the other three people who formed the judging panel with Dumbledore: Lucius Malfoy, Madame Maxime, and Professor Karkaroff.

"Madame Maxime!" Fleur began to complain to her principal, "They said this little boy is going to participate in the competition too!"

"What on earth does this mean, Dumbledore?" Madame Maxime's chest heaved violently, and her head almost hit the suspended ceiling.

"I'm curious, too, Dumbledore." Professor Karkaroff also said, with a very cold smile on his face. Harry felt his arms frozen just by looking at him. "Hogwarts has two champions? I don't remember anyone telling me that the organizer can have two champions. Did you write it in the cracks of the charter in some language that no one can understand?"

There was a mocking tone to Karkaroff's laughter that was very unpleasant.

"That's absolutely not possible!" said Madame Maxime, pressing her large hands, which were covered with many opal rings, on Fleur's shoulders. "Hogwarts can't have two champions. It's so unfair to us!"

"We thought that your age limit would definitely exclude underage candidates, Dumbledore." Karkaroff still had a cold smile on his face, "Otherwise, we would have brought more candidates from the school."

"We still don't know exactly how this happened." Dumbledore said calmly, "Let me ask Harry first."

The old man with the white beard looked down at the anxious boy and said, "So, did you put your name into the Goblet of Fire, Harry?"

"No!" Harry said immediately.

"Have you asked a student who meets the age requirement to put your name into the Goblet of Fire?" Dumbledore continued.

"No!" Harry was as firm as before.

But Karkaroff and Madame Maxime both made distrustful noises: "He must be lying!"

"This is absolutely impossible!" Mrs. White could no longer bear it. "Harry is an honest child. There is no way he can exceed Dumbledore's age limit! There must be some conspiracy here!"

"Conspiracy! Of course it's a conspiracy!" Karkaroff interrupted Mrs. White loudly, "Hogwarts' conspiracy to gain an advantage in the Triwizard Tournament!"

"Of course, we also have objective referees -" Karkaroff said immediately, "Mr. Malfoy, Mr. Bagman, I believe you two agree that this is a very inappropriate situation?"

Bagman's clean-shaven face began to sweat, and the firelight reflected on it, making him look greasy. He looked at Lucius very nervously and wiped his sweat with a handkerchief from his pocket.

Lucius seemed much more comfortable, and his face still had the standard expression of a pure-blood noble—as if he was tired of everything, an indifferent look. He changed the position of his cane, put his two hands together, and pressed the silver snake head.

Lucius's eyes flickered across Karkaroff's face before he continued, "The Charter must be followed, and it clearly states that anyone whose name spews out of the Goblet of Fire must participate in the Triwizard Tournament."

Mrs. White was also very dissatisfied with this, as she did not want her son to be in danger, and even began to think that Lucius was one of the accomplices who put Harry in danger.

"Hey, Lucius knows all about the charter." A new smile appeared on Bagman's face, and he turned to look at Madame Maxime and Professor Karkaroff. In his opinion, the dispute had been resolved.

"I request a re-registration!" Karkaroff said, his expression distorted. "Put out the Goblet of Fire again, and we will keep adding names to it until there are two warriors from every school!"

"But..." Bagman began to wipe his sweat again, "The Goblet of Fire has been extinguished. It will not be rekindled until the next Triwizard Tournament..."

"The next tournament?" Karkaroff was furious. "There will be no next Triwizard Tournament! Durmstrang will never participate again! After so many meetings! So many negotiations and consultations! How could something like this happen? I am leaving with my students now!"

"No!" Mrs. White shouted, "No one can leave until we find out who threw Harry's name into the Goblet of Fire! There's a dark wizard in this school! He wants Harry to die!"

Harry shrank his neck. He had never seen Mrs. White so angry. She was more terrifying than ten lions tied together. Mrs. White hadn't finished her words yet: "And I happen to know that some people are very suspicious!"

Those green eyes moved around Lucius and Karkaroff's faces several times, without any hesitation.

There was no change in Lucius's expression, but Karkaroff looked extremely confused, because he didn't recognize the woman in front of him at all.

"This is... this is a very serious accusation!" Bagman jumped up and down anxiously, "Don't ever say anything like that again!"

It can be seen from the expression on Mrs. White's face that she still refused to give up, but Snape, who was standing next to her, stepped forward, blocking her view, and whispered: "Leave it to Dumbledore. We all trust him. Besides, no one can pose a threat to Harry in this school, because Ivy will also participate in the Triwizard Tournament..."

Hearing this, Mrs. White stared at Dumbledore until he nodded.

"We don't know how this situation came about," Dumbledore said to everyone in the room. "Although we all have doubts and dissatisfaction about this, why not first listen to what the parties involved have to say? The four champions chosen by the Goblet of Fire."

"We?" Fleur asked doubtfully, with obvious anger. "Once the contract with the Goblet of Fire is made, it can never be violated. Everyone knows this! Can we go back on our word?"

"Yes, Miss Delacour, violating the Goblet of Fire Contract is a very serious matter. I'm afraid it won't be much better than dying on the spot." Dumbledore glanced at Harry.

"Then let him participate," Krum said grimly. "One more warrior won't have any impact on the outcome, and he's still so young."

Looking at Dumbledore and his mother, Harry asked hesitantly, "Can I ask what the consequences will be if I quit halfway?"

"You will no longer be able to cast spells, child," said Dumbledore, "and will become a Squib."

I'm afraid this is something many people want to see.

Although Dumbledore didn't say it explicitly, Harry understood this truth immediately.

"Well, then I have no choice. I'll participate." Harry looked at his mother and secretly made up his mind that no matter what conspiracy was waiting for him in the Triwizard Tournament, he would not let those hiding in the dark succeed. For his new life, for his resurrected parents and Sirius who regained his innocence, Harry would never let his current life turn into a bubble again.

"Very good." Dumbledore nodded with satisfaction, then turned to Ivy who was sitting in front of the fireplace. After the professors entered the room, he was the only one still sitting in the armchair in deep thought. "Ivy, do you have anything to say?"

Ivy stood up from the armchair with a glass of wine in hand. "If you think that Hogwarts having one more warrior is an advantage, then turn it into a disadvantage. After the referee announces the scores, both my and Harry's scores will be counted as Hogwarts' final score, how about that?"

"Ha!" Fleur let out a ridiculous laugh and was about to say something, but was stopped by Madame Maxime's big hand on her shoulder.

"Kid." Karkaroff was so happy, but he still said hypocritically, "Actually, you don't have to be like this..."

"Since someone refuses, forget it." Ivy waved his hand nonchalantly and eliminated the three armchairs in the room. He also doubled the size of the small wine table so that it could hold eleven glasses of wine. "Let's toast to the success of the Triwizard Tournament, how about that?"

Ivy's effortless spellcasting made everyone in the room open their eyes wide, and Madame Maxime looked at the talkative Karkaroff with anger.

"What!" Karkaroff's smugness turned into panic, and he didn't know where to put his facial features. "I mean..."

"Let's do what Ivy said before." Dumbledore said with a smile, "Let the two Hogwarts warriors share the score. This is definitely something worth promoting, especially since you are from Slytherin and Gryffindor respectively."

After hearing what Dumbledore said, the expressions of the other two headmasters eased.

Dumbledore picked up a glass of wine from the table and looked at everyone in the small room with a smile: "Come on, let's toast to the successful holding of this Triwizard Tournament."

Sparsely, people in the room raised their cups with different expressions.

Professor McGonagall and Mrs. White looked worried, while Karkaroff and Madame Maxime looked happy; Lucius looked calm, while Bagman looked excited; Snape looked thoughtful, while Dumbledore looked carefree.

As for the four contestants, the expressions on their faces were even more interesting: Harry's face showed determination, Krum's was solemn, Ivy had a playful smile on her lips, and Fleur's pretty face looked a little angry.

But no matter what, everyone still chanted together: "Cheers!"

After a glass of wine, the atmosphere in the room no longer seemed so tense.

Bagman burped loudly, rubbed his hands and said, "The next step is to instruct our warriors, right? Lucius, perhaps you would like to share with them?"

Lucius tapped his stick on the floor to attract the attention of the four warriors: "The first task is to test your courage, so you will not know exactly what you are facing. The courage to face the unknown is an important quality of a wizard..."

“The first event will take place on November 11 in front of an audience and a panel of judges.”

"When doing the project, warriors are not allowed to ask for help from anyone, and the only thing you can rely on is your own wand. Once the first project is over, you will get information about the second project. Since the competition lasts a long time and has high requirements, warriors do not need to take exams."

"Of course, I have also noticed that some people need to take the NEWT of the British Ministry of Magic, and I will also explain the situation to the Wizarding Examination Authority. The relevant certificates will be issued based on the individual scores in the Triwizard Tournament."

Ivy was very sure that this was a thoughtful benefit from Lucius.

(End of this chapter)