The days of waiting were long and boring. The Triwizard Tournament became the mainstream topic during this period. Many students believed that Albert would become the champion of Hogwarts. He also had a good reputation in the school. Except for a few envious and jealous people, everyone else believed that only Albert was qualified to represent Hogwarts in the Triwizard Tournament. Only he could crush Beauxbatons and Durmstrang and win the Triwizard Cup for Hogwarts.
This incident undoubtedly made Professor Moody feel very unhappy, because he found that Albert Anderson was too popular when he first sneaked into Hogwarts School. The temptation in the first class of the new semester made Moody's mood fall to the bottom. Because he found that Albert Anderson was a very powerful wizard, and his own magical power was also very strong. He didn't look like a mudblood at all. He suddenly understood why Wormtail was so wary of him. He was indeed a guy who would pose a major threat to the Dark Lord's plan.
Wandless magic and silent spells are not skills that can be easily mastered by school students. Coupled with the extraordinary abilities demonstrated in the classroom, no matter how powerful the warriors of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang are, it is of no avail, because they are no longer on the same level. It is no exaggeration to say that it is an adult beating a child.
How can we lose this
If he continued with the original plan and made Harry the fourth warrior, even if he knew the content of the game in advance and secretly provided help to Harry, it would be difficult to guarantee that Harry would be able to get the championship trophy one step ahead of time.
The best way is to prevent Albert from participating in the warrior selection. As long as he can't participate in the competition, Harry will undoubtedly have a chance to win the championship trophy with his help and let the original plan continue, but this will undoubtedly make other people suspicious. Even Dumbledore will realize that there is a problem, because Dumbledore also believes that Albert will become the champion of Hogwarts, and Albert himself has already said that he will participate in the warrior selection. The worst thing is that no one can compete with him for the champion of Hogwarts. Once he fails, it will cause a series of problems. Dumbledore is a very perceptive person. If other Hogwarts students are elected as warriors, it means that Albert is likely to be controlled by the Imperius Curse, or someone has tampered with his memory and used the Oblivion Curse on him, causing Albert to miss the opportunity to vote directly. The Oblivion Curse will not work once it encounters a powerful wizard, and Moody's current identity cannot be exposed. Doing unnecessary things will easily expose his identity.
Is it just a matter of modifying the original plan
Professor Moody was a little unwilling, because he had racked his brains to figure out how to help Harry get high scores, and had even begun to pave the way for Harry.
If he gave up the original plan and kidnapped Harry directly during the third game, his identity would definitely be exposed, and it was hard to say what the probability of success would be. After all, there was a great risk in taking Harry away without taking him by surprise under Dumbledore's nose. This matter would definitely alert Dumbledore, and it would obviously take time for the Dark Lord to resurrect himself. Moody could not be sure how long it would take Dumbledore to find Harry's location. Once Dumbledore went over to disrupt the situation, the consequences would be disastrous.
Damn Anderson, I wish I could kill him.
After a few days, Moody actually agreed with Wormtail's original proposal, but the best time to kill Albert would be the chaos caused by Malfoy in the World Cup camp, and they had missed that opportunity.
While Moody was thinking about how to arrange for Albert Anderson, he didn't realize that he had already been arranged by someone else.
Albert influenced Dumbledore through Sirius and Harry, causing him to have some doubts about the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts. Once he had doubts, he would inevitably pay more attention to Moody, which would undoubtedly cause Moody a lot of trouble.
Yes, Albert didn't want Moody to target him at all, so he unethically threw "only" Dumbledore to the other side and let them fight with their wits and courage on their own.
As long as Dumbledore had doubts about Moody, even just a hint of suspicion, some of his actions would be interpreted differently in Dumbledore's eyes. After discovering that he was being targeted by Dumbledore, Moody would not dare to act recklessly, otherwise he would inevitably reveal a flaw. A slight flaw could make the Dark Lord's plan go to waste. Moody would not risk the failure of his plan to cause trouble for Albert.
He had to think of other solutions, which made Moody feel inexplicably irritated.
Especially since he had just come out of Dumbledore's office, they had just discussed the Triwizard Tournament. This was one of the reasons why Dumbledore invited Moody to work at the school. He hoped that Moody could help keep an eye on what happened to Harry and the school and avoid other problems during the Triwizard Tournament.
After returning to his office, Moody glanced at the broken peephole on the table, then shifted his gaze away from the buzzing secret detector on the table and focused his attention back on the magic mirror, which could reflect his enemies. The closer the enemy was, the clearer the figure in the magic mirror would be.
Normally, Moody would use this mirror to determine who the enemy was who approached his office so that he could return to his original appearance at night without being noticed by others.
Walking to the window and looking at the scenery outside, Moody frowned and thought about what to do next. He still thought that Albert should be eliminated, but this matter absolutely could not be done by him, so he had to think of a new way.
Moody's first plan was to have Slytherin students attack Albert on the day of the warrior selection, so that he would miss the warrior selection directly.
The excuse was simple, because the two sides had a grudge, and they didn't want Albert to become a warrior. As for what would happen to the cannon fodder that had been used, that was not something he should care about.
But Moody considered the strength comparison between the two sides, and suddenly felt that this plan was unreliable. Even if he let that group of people attack Albert, there was no guarantee that they could knock him out and hide him, let alone ensure that the plan could be implemented smoothly. The loophole of this plan was that the strength gap between the two sides was too large, and although many Slytherin students disliked Albert, the conflict between the two sides had not reached that level, otherwise they would have fought long ago.
The second plan is to find someone to hold Albert back, and preferably give him some drugs so that he will accidentally miss the Triwizard Tournament, but this is not easy either, because Albert himself is a very good potion master and has won the Potions Championship. It is not easy to drug him, and ordinary people are not capable of this task. Albert is a very vigilant guy, so we must find a reliable guy who has some relationship with Albert and is not easily suspected to complete this task.
Moreover, he cannot use the Imperius Curse to control people personally, he must remove himself from the situation, and it would be best if both parties have little contact.
The last thing is what potion to use and the reason for using it. No one can find any flaws, otherwise Dumbledore will definitely become suspicious.
This is very troublesome. Moody can't think of any good solution for the time being, and his understanding of Albert is very limited. He must collect more information and ask Wormtail. The execution of this matter may fall into Wormtail's hands.
"What a troublesome guy." Moody muttered as he looked at the figure walking towards Hagrid's hut. Because he found that Albert actually stopped and looked over here as if he noticed something. There was a long distance between the two sides, and he was standing behind the window, so he didn't worry about being discovered at all.
Moody was right. Albert felt that he was being watched. Stopping and looking back was just an instinctive reaction. But Moody was wrong. Albert didn't see who was watching him, but he had guessed who it was. However, Albert didn't care much because he believed that Moody would not have much time to trouble him in the future and would not act rashly. He had decided to take time to tell his fortune another day to see if Moody would do anything else when selecting the Warriors.
After knocking on the door and walking into Hagrid's hut, Albert found that Hermione was also here, and seemed to be chatting with Hagrid.
After seeing Albert, Hagrid suddenly became expressionless. It was obvious that he was very unhappy that Albert did not attend the Care of Magical Creatures advanced class.
"What are you talking about?" Albert looked at Hermione, his eyes fell on the box on the table, which contained several badges with the letters on them: SPEW.
"Vomit?"
Albert turned his eyes away from the badge and said to Hagrid beside him, "Don't be angry Hagrid, after the sixth grade, I have to give up a few classes to ensure that my schedule can accommodate other courses."
"So, you've dropped Care of Magical Creatures?" said Hagrid angrily.
"Yes, because I don't really like dealing with magical creatures, and I don't plan to go down this path in the future, so it's normal to give up." Albert said directly, and I'm also very busy. I have a lot of parties every week, a lot of letters to reply to, and a lot of papers, not to mention homework. Now I have to help Blake deal with magazine issues, and Isobel is planning to publish a book, so I have to help her keep an eye on it. It's not easy to find time to come to your place for a cup of tea every week.
"Hmph!" Hagrid snorted in dissatisfaction. He thought Albert was quibbling, but he still poured Albert a cup of hot tea.
Of course he knew that Albert was very busy, but he was still a little upset that he had given up the Care of Magical Creatures class. The number of students in the advanced class of Care of Magical Creatures was really... terrible.
"Well, I know you're busy, and the rumor throughout the school is that you'll be the champion of Hogwarts." Hagrid changed the unpleasant topic.
"I do plan to attend the announcement of the champions. The Triwizard Tournament is a very interesting competition. It would be a pity to miss it. As for whether I can become a champion of Hogwarts, I can only wait until the day when the champions are selected to be determined." Albert took a sip of red tea, looked at Hermione again and asked, "What's the matter with your 'vomit' badge?"
"It's not SPEW!" Hermione explained angrily. "It means Society for the Advocate of House-Elves."
"So, you didn't give up in the end?" Albert asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I agree with your point of view, but I think it is still necessary to establish an association."
"Hermione, I think it's not good for you to do this. It's the nature of house-elves to take care of humans. They will feel sad if they are not allowed to work, and paying them wages is an insult to house-elves." Hagrid reminded seriously. He didn't understand why Hermione was so stubborn about this matter. He cast a pleading look at Albert, hoping that he could persuade Hermione to give up this stupid idea.
"But Harry freed Dobby, and Dobby was so happy. And didn't Albert also hire a house-elf?" Hermione cast a burning gaze at Albert.
"Really?" Hagrid looked at Albert in surprise, but considering Albert's character, it didn't seem strange for him to do such a thing.
"That's not hired." Albert shook his head.
"That one is totally different from a house-elf. I saw that he was wearing clean and tidy clothes." Hermione pointed this out bluntly. Ordinary house-elves don't know how to wear clothes at all.
"That's not a piece of clothing, it's just a piece of cloth with three holes in it, at least that's what it looks like to house-elves." Albert shrugged and said, "My promise is still valid. If you really want to write a novel to guide and appeal to wizards to treat house-elves well, I can help you."
"Hermione, I think you should accept Albert's advice. You will never be able to convince most of the elves to fight for their freedom - really, it's impossible." Hagrid agreed with Albert and felt that that was the best way to help the house-elves.
"It's difficult." Hermione said sadly, "Most families with house-elves are pure-blood wizard families. Their attitude towards house-elves... You haven't seen Sirius's attitude towards Kreacher. It will never be possible to change their minds through novels. There are only a few wizards like Albert who are open-minded and willing to treat house-elves as family members in the wizarding world."
"Perhaps, you are right, but you are too anxious. Some things cannot be solved by your enthusiasm." Albert sighed softly and said, "I suddenly understand why the Sorting Hat assigned you to Gryffindor."
"I chose Gryffindor on my own initiative," said Hermione.
"This kind of thing needs to be guided slowly, it can't be achieved in one step. Anyway, house-elves have been enslaved for a thousand years, and waiting a few more decades won't be a big deal. If you don't slowly change the attitude of wizards towards house-elves now, and don't let people sympathize with house-elves and think that they are reliable friends and helpers of wizards, then when you become the Minister of Magic one day, it will be difficult to implement the laws related to house-elves. By then, people will oppose you, and some people will even ask you to step down, turning you into a stray dog that everyone wants to beat."
"I think what Albert said makes sense, and his approach has a high probability of success. Obviously, if your plan is reliable, you'd better trust him, because many of Albert's suggestions can be realized, just like I followed his advice and successfully saved Buckbeak." Hagrid agreed with Albert's point of view, but he didn't think Hermione could become the Minister of Magic. If Albert became the Minister of Magic, it would be very likely. As for Hermione, the probability was too low.
"Okay, you're right, the wizarding world should be made to sympathize with house-elves. I'll find time to think about the content of the novel." Hermione muttered.
Hagrid grinned and gave Albert a "You're just like me" look.
At this moment, a strange clattering sound suddenly came from the box beside the wall. Albert turned his head and found that it came from the box in the corner.
"I got a box that works similarly to your briefcase." Hagrid explained with a smile, "It houses the result I made a while ago: the blasting-tailed skrewt. I used a manticore and 60 fire crabs to breed it. Would you like to see it?"
"Get me one quietly," said Albert.
"Hold on."
When Hagrid opened the box, a very strong smell of rotten fish and shrimp emanated from it, which made Albert feel nauseous.
Soon, Hagrid caught a blasting-tailed skrewt. The smell of rotten fish and shrimp became stronger. It looked like a large lobster without its shell. It looked very terrible. What was worse was that sparks would shoot out from the tail of the blasting-tailed skrewt. Hagrid, who had thick skin and flesh, might not be afraid of it, but the other students would be in big trouble.
"Hagrid, I have to remind you that if you continue to cultivate the blasting-tailed skrewt, it will definitely violate the "Prohibition of Animal Breeding Experiments" decree. Be careful that the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures will cause trouble for you. The Manticore itself is a Class XXXXX dangerous creature, and the Fire Crab is a Class XXX dangerous creature. That means the blasting-tailed skrewt is at least a Class XXX dangerous creature, and it is more likely to be a Class XXXX dangerous creature when it grows up." Albert picked up a spoon and knocked on the skin of the blasting-tailed skrewt and said, "The fire crab has a strong shell, which means that the blasting-tailed skrewt is very likely to have a strong shell. This thing will definitely be more dangerous. Believe me, if you let students cultivate this thing in class, the Care of Magical Creatures class will definitely become the most annoying subject, without a doubt, because this thing is too dangerous."
Albert pointed at the blast-tailed skrewt's tail and said, "Such a small tail can do a lot of damage. When they grow up, it's not hard to guess how dangerous they will be."
When the two left Hagrid's hut, Hermione said to Albert, "We should convince Hagrid to give up breeding Blast-tailed Skrewts. In the last Care of Magical Creatures class, many students were injured by its tail. Once Hagrid finds out what Blast-tailed Skrewts eat, I guess they will grow to six feet in an instant. If the Ministry of Magic knows that we are breeding XXXX-level dangerous creatures, Hagrid will definitely be in big trouble."
"It's hard, just like you won't give up 'vomiting'." Albert shook his head.
"It's the Society for the Advocate of House-Elves," Hermione corrected feebly.