The King of Flags at Hogwarts

The auditorium remained bustling like a marketplace until after nine o'clock, but the professors pretended not to see it.

This is a case of "the law doesn't punish everyone." It only happens once every few centuries, so let the children have a blast.

At midnight, the Great Hall finally returned to silence, but then two young wizards sneaked up to the Goblet of Fire.

These two little wizards are twins, the same pair of little witches who repeatedly saw through Poppy's disguises, and the kind of "clever people" that Poppy and Hagrid deeply despise.

The little girls tiptoed to the Goblet of Fire. One of them pulled an alchemical item from her pocket—a compass; the other took out a piece of parchment with "Harry Potter" written on it.

"Ah! What do I see? Two little wizards out for a night stroll!"

A mocking voice rang out, startling the little witch who was using a prop to cast a confusion spell on the Goblet of Fire. The compass fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

Three figures appeared in the Great Hall: Headmaster Dumbledore, Bobby, and a middle-aged wizard with an unfamiliar face.

The middle-aged wizard smiled and said, "Let me introduce myself. My name is Barnabas Collins. I was invited by Professor Dumbledore to maintain security for the Triwizard Tournament. Good midnight, ladies."

Bobby shrugged. She was the youngest here, so it was her duty to do the work.

She Apparated to the little witch's side and snatched the parchment.

Dumbledore took the parchment and asked, "Miss Solia Brown and Miss Marlene Brown, I have never heard of you having such a good relationship with Mr. Harry Potter that you need to register him in the middle of the night."

Miss Brown and her companions looked extremely unnatural, clearly under a spell.

Barnabas Collins patted Dumbledore's arm. "Al, enough talk," he flicked his wand, "Let's get to the bottom of this!"

Then, a gray ribbon of light appeared on each of the Brown girls and floated out of the castle.

The light band had barely left the castle gates when it exploded into specks of light with a "pop." The two little girls rolled their eyes back and fainted.

Barnabas clicked his tongue: "The reaction is pretty quick. This counter-surveillance capability is like a mouse that's always running for its life."

“Is it Peter Pettigrew?” Bobby asked.

“No, Bobby, it’s not him,” Dumbledore replied. “Given that Peter Pettigrew is an Animagus, he wasn’t sent to Azkaban, but instead imprisoned in the Mysteries, and his fate is currently unknown.”

Nowadays, Hogwarts' defense and vigilance magic has been strengthened many times over. With two Dark Lords and one White Lord working together, even if Bobby wanted to sneak into Hogwarts silently, it would be a difficult task.

Therefore, the person who could cast the Imperius Curse on the little wizard must be inside the castle.

"Who could it be?"

Poppy's habit was to temporarily set aside problems she couldn't figure out. At that moment, she looked at Barnabas and shook her head.

The three-way battle for supremacy is just a small-scale affair; there's no need for you to stay here, sir...

Barnabas chuckled softly. "The Triwizard Tournament is just an excuse. What do you, a mere child, know about my business with Al?"

----------

The next day, the auditorium was still bustling, but people were no longer concerned about who had signed up, but rather who would become the warrior that night.

Another change is that a ring of blue flames has been lit around the Goblet of Fire, which complements the blue and white flames inside the goblet, making it quite beautiful.

Dumbledore's official explanation is: because there were too many applicants last night, an additional trial of courage has been added today, and only those with a firm heart can step through the ring of fire.

In reality, this was a ruse; the purpose of the fire rings was simply to identify those afflicted by the Soul-Stealing Curse.

And what was Bobby doing at this time?

She was comforting Hagrid in his cabin.

"Bobby...how could you do this? They're still babies!"

Bobby shrugged. "But if they can't generate value, they lose the right to live, because they can't survive on their own."

Hagrid wiped away his tears. "But aren't you a Potions Master? Even using them as potion ingredients is better than frying them in oil. How much pain they would be in!"

Poppy cautioned, "Hagrid, you can't just put that thing in the pot. You have to peel off the outer shell and marinate it with a potion for two hours before you can eat it."

Ever since Hagrid saw the blasting snails he had painstakingly cultivated on the dinner table last night, he has been heartbroken, which led to the conversation above.

“Okay, Bobby, you’re right. Since they haven’t been tortured, then I’m fine. Anyway, whether they end up on the dinner table or as ingredients, they’re all going to die. It’s better than their race being wiped out.”

Hagrid wiped away his tears with his large handkerchief, blew his nose, crumpled it up, and stuffed it into his pocket. He then changed the subject, "What kind of man do you think Mrs. Maxim likes?"

Poppy: ………………

Poppy herself wasn't a purebred girl, nor was she a player in her past life, so how could she give Hagrid advice?

After a long pause, she hesitantly said, "I think you should at least look a little cleaner?"

Perhaps heeding Bobby's advice, Hagrid didn't wear his fluffy brown suit to the dinner party, nor did he use motorcycle oil to style his hair.

He looked refreshed immediately after simply washing his hair and beard with Porter shampoo.

His treasured cologne was thrown into the trash by Bobby, and replaced with a fresh scented perfume that Bobby had hastily concocted in half an hour.

Hagrid remembered Bobby's advice: If you want to win over Mrs. Maxim's heart, never, ever mention the word "giant" in front of her! You two are just exceptionally gifted with large frames!

As a world-renowned prophet, Bobby was deeply trusted by Hagrid, who dared not disobey her. Even as he went to meet the Beauxbatons school delegation, he kept muttering to himself, "We are not half-giants, no, I can't say giants, yes, I can't say giants… So, we are not half-giants, we just have large frames…"

Before announcing the Warriors' election results, a Halloween dinner is naturally a must.

Having learned from yesterday's experience, Furong was much more natural when she saw Bobby again at the dinner party, which greatly encouraged the mixed-race Veena.

Because she felt she must be a warrior for Beauxbatons, and if she couldn't overcome her awe of Poppy, then she had already lost before the game even started.

"Well then, the goblet must make its decision!" said Dumbledore.

"The warrior whose name is called needs to go to the next room for initial guidance."

With a wave of his wand, all the lights in the hall except for the candle in the pumpkin lantern went out, making the hall look even more Halloween-like—especially the blue flames of the Goblet of Fire reflected on the old wizard's face, which was truly chilling.

The flames in the Goblet of Fire suddenly turned red, crackling and bursting forth. With a tongue of fire, a slightly charred piece of parchment flew out.

Dumbledore caught the parchment and announced:

“A warrior of Durmstrang!” His words were clear and powerful. “Viktor Krum!”

Applause and cheers erupted, and Ron clapped his hands and said to Harry, "See, I told you it was him!"

Hermione muttered to herself, "I still don't like him. His face is too gloomy."

The same process was repeated twice.

"A warrior of Beauxbatons! Fleur Delacour!"

"Finally! The champions of Hogwarts!"

"Bobby Evans!"

The enthusiastic cheers and applause almost lifted the ceiling of the star-studded Hogwarts Great Hall.

Poppy stood up with a smile and was the last to enter the Warriors' room. The applause and cheers in the auditorium continued, even though people could no longer see Poppy.

Luke Bagman clapped his hands and shouted, "She deserves it! She deserves it! Look at what she has done for the wizarding world! She will be the champion, she must be the champion!"

As an official of the Ministry of Magic, his remarks were somewhat inappropriate, but you must understand—after all, Mr. Bagman earned a full seven thousand Galleons through betting on the Quidditch World Cup final.

Chapter 109 A Taste of China

In the medical room, Bobby Unit-01 was fiddling with bottles and jars.

Bobby Unit 2 sat by the hospital bed, with Solia Brown on her left and Marlene Brown on her right.

Do you remember what happened the night before last?

Solia, being the older sister, nodded, but subconsciously pulled the blanket up to cover her shoulders.

Clearly, the girl was terrified. Having been bitten by a werewolf when she was young, she had been ostracized and bullied by everyone, even her parents treated her coldly, which made the two sisters extremely insecure.

"That night we wanted to get Krum's autograph, and when we saw him return to the big ship, we followed him."

Marlene, the younger sister, said, "We figured he didn't sign up immediately because he needed to go back and get paper and pens, so as long as we waited at the exit of the big ship, we were sure we could catch him."

Solia: "But before I even got close to the big ship, I suddenly felt like I was floating on air, so comfortable that I felt like I was flying to heaven."

Marlene said, "A voice ordered us to leave and wait at the school gate."

"We could not disobey orders, so we had to return to the castle entrance and stand there for several hours."

"Then an owl flew by and dropped down the compass and the parchment."

"The voice then commanded us to use a compass to confuse the Goblet of Fire when no one was around, and then to drop the parchment into it."

"Miss Evans, you know what happened after that."

Bobby rubbed his temples. The useful information was pitifully scarce; the girls hadn't even seen the person who cast the Soul Reaper's Curse.

Near the large ship? That might be a clue.

Karkaroff is a prime suspect, but Bobby, who has read the original books, says that if Voldemort came knocking on his door, this coward would most likely run away immediately. After all, after Voldemort's downfall, he betrayed many Death Eaters in order to exonerate himself.

The trail ended there, but thankfully Harry wasn't chosen as a champion, which at least thwarted the new Voldemort's plans, and it's highly unlikely that the later incident of the trophy being set as a Portkey would happen.

The examination of the Warrior's Wand and the interview with Rita Skeeter proceeded as scheduled.

To Fleur and Viktor's surprise, the wand maker Ollivander brought a whole bunch of wands for Bobby to choose from, saying that her wand had exceeded expectations, having lasted for two years without breaking down, but it was about time to retire.

Look at what kind of talk is this? What, in Bobby Evans' hands, is this wand some kind of fast-moving consumer good?

Those who know the truth, however, know that for Poppy, the wand is indeed a fast-moving consumer good.

Ultimately, the most suitable wand for Poppy was still an applewood wand, with the core still being the Dragon Heartstring, but this time the core material was provided by Poppy herself.

Evans, the Dragon Eater, said she has a bunch of such cane core material on her chest.

“Bobby, why does this Triwizard Tournament’s hero introduction look like a personal interview with you?” Hermione pointed to the Daily Prophet’s article about the Triwizard Tournament and showed it to Bobby.

"Take a look at the author."

“Rita Skeeter? Oh, I see, she’s one of yours.” Hermione shook her head and put the newspaper down.

But Miss Beaver still had something to say, "The competition is clearly called the Triwizard Tournament, but the way she wrote it is like Her Majesty the Queen and her two attendants. At least Krum has a full name, but Miss Delacour's surname is misspelled!"

Bobby, having just finished a tart, finally had a chance to speak: "She insulted someone you know, and you had a problem with that. Now she's praising someone you know, and you still have a problem... Hermione, why don't you apply for a job as a reporter for the Daily Prophet?"

Hermione had actually entered her rebellious phase. In the original story, during this period, she was desperately trying to organize her SPEW, the house-elf rights advocacy group.

However, in this timeline, under Poppy's subtle influence, Hermione understood in her second year that house-elves were not a race conquered by wizards in the ancient wars, but rather that the ancient wizarding authorities were trying to glorify themselves.

House-elves are a species created through hybridization in Avalon's "biological laboratory." Their purpose was to produce servants to help wizards manage their daily lives.