Who let this Dementor into Hogwarts!

Chapter 372, Project 3

"Aren't fairy names easy to come up with?" Cohen said. "Lala the Slovenly, Long Beard, and things like that..."

“That’s how I made it up.” Ron grabbed two chicken legs and started gnawing on them as if he were starving. “Hmm—how’s your practice going? The competition is tonight.”

“I practiced all the spells on Hermione’s list.” Harry went through them again, making sure he remembered them all. “Hopefully I can still remember them tonight…”

“Once you master a spell, it’s not easy to forget it.” Hermione, unusually, didn’t reiterate the exam content after the test; she was more concerned about their competition now. “You must be careful in everything you do—it’s the last event, and whoever put your names in the Goblet of Fire might make a move during this event…”

Harry nodded solemnly.

Cohen nodded in agreement. Now that Rose and her gang had captured the Silver Keys during the Triwizard Tournament, his focus was on "taking Harry to Voldemort."

Winning the championship and fully resurrecting Voldemort will allow Korn to obtain the remaining two Animagus forms—Nightmare and Human.

In the afternoon, Cohen came to Hagrid's place alone to ask him for some fish fry.

"I specially got some fish with fewer bones for the griffins and water snakes!" Hagrid happily showed Cohen two large buckets of fish fry. "Remember to plant some aquatic plants at the bottom of the lake when you're raising them; here are two bags of seeds..."

“Dumbledore should have given you a more exciting job than the gamekeeper.” Cohen was extremely satisfied with Hagrid’s preparations and felt that the saying “Hagrid feeds the entire Forbidden Forest and Black Lake” was not an exaggeration.

“I think this is fine.” Hagrid chuckled, scratching his messy hair. “Hey, by the way, Cohen, are you planning to go to France this summer? Maxim asked me yesterday if I wanted to visit her…”

“No thanks,” Cohen said. “I’m going to see Herbert’s second trial this summer, and then I have to go to Greece—and doesn’t it seem a little weird that you two are taking me on your date…”

"Huh? A date?" Hagrid exclaimed in surprise.

“She’s already invited you to her turf, so it’s time to take things a step further,” Cohen said. “Seize the opportunity, Hagrid.”

“But I thought it was just a trip—I mean… I’m not very good at…” Hagrid visibly panicked. “Should I bring some…”

“She likes you just the way you are, so don’t be too nervous,” Cohen said. “It’s not just a matter of being a good match in terms of social standing; you two are probably the only remaining pair of half-giants in the world. Just like if I could find another girl with the exact same social class as me, Edward and the others would definitely urge me to marry her…”

Hagrid seemed to have stopped listening to Cohen, his expression suggesting he was already fantasizing about strolling around France with Ms. Maxime.

Cohen spent the afternoon digging a lake in the box, planting aquatic plants and releasing fish fry. Of course, most of the effort was actually provided by the Chimera Beast, while Cohen's main task was to control the old water snake and the griffin so that they would not harm the fish fry.

I know, but it smells so good...

The old water snake stared intently at the half-grown salmon and cod in the bucket.

"Screech—" The griffin stared longingly at the fish that had been controlled by the levitation spell and fallen into the new lake, its mouth slightly open, and cried out to Cohen as if pleading.

"Once you've eaten them all, there won't be any left," Cohen reminded the old water snake. "We have to wait until they grow bigger and have more offspring, just like the sheep here—until then, you can only eat the sheep."

The old water snake looked somewhat depressed; for it, having fish in front of it but not being able to eat them seemed like a terrible torment.

After dealing with the food supply for the old water snake and the griffin, Cohen attended the dinner before the start of the third project. The referees were still Fudge, Crouch, and the three principals, but Cohen noticed that Fudge's condition seemed to be getting more and more abnormal each day—especially today, when his face was as white as a sheet.

As the sky outside the Great Hall's ceiling turned from blue to dark purple, the leftover food on the table was magically wiped away, and Dumbledore stood up.

"In five minutes, I will invite everyone to the Quidditch pitch to watch the final game of the Triwizard Tournament. Now, please, Warriors, follow Mr. Crouch to the pitch."

Cohen and Harry stood up, and Mr. Crouch had already brought the other warriors to their side.

The Gryffindor students applauded wildly for the two of them, and Harry's tense expression relaxed a little.

“Just treat it like a Quidditch match,” Ron said as Harry and Korn were about to leave. “Or maybe an exam—”

“That was sad, because I always got 70 on my tests,” Cohen said.

Harry laughed, and his tension eased considerably.

Led by Crouch, they arrived outside the castle ahead of the spectators. The Quidditch pitch was completely unrecognizable, with a twenty-foot-high hedge surrounding the edge of the field. On the side closest to the castle, there was a dark gap, which was the only entrance to the maze.

There is no exit here, so only the warriors who obtain the trophy can leave directly, while the losers will be brought back by the Aurors and professors patrolling in the sky.

After a while, people began to enter the stands. Students and parents of the warriors filed in, and the air was filled with excitement.

Cohen had no idea what they were so excited about—all they could see were the red sparks shooting into the sky when the warriors encountered an insurmountable danger.

Stars began to twinkle in the clear, deep blue sky, and at the edge of the maze, torches suddenly burst into flame, illuminating the surrounding area.

But the maze remained dark and somewhat eerie.

"Ladies and gentlemen! The final match of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin!" The announcer, once again the very passionate Lee Jordan, announced, "Let me announce the current scores! Cohen Norton – 87 points! First place! Azkaban!"

The cheers from the crowd startled the birds in the forbidden forest, sending them flying into the night sky and scattering in all directions.

Nobody cares how weird the name Azkaban is—just like nobody cares if the players on the Bumblebee Quidditch team are actually bumblebees.

But Fudge looked very unhappy because Azkaban was becoming increasingly out of control.

"Next up are Cedric Diggory and Harry Potter! Tied for second place! Hogwarts School!"

Another cheer erupted.

"Viktor Krum – Third place! Durmstrang Academy!"

"Hibiscus Delacour - Fourth place! Beauxbatons College!"

(End of this chapter)