Albert walked around the crowded students, entered the Great Hall, and sat down next to the Gryffindor table.
At this moment, there were still many empty seats in the auditorium, and a large number of students were crowding at the door to ask Krum for his autograph. Mr. Ball Star was also very depressed, because he found that the students of Hogwarts seemed to know that he would come, and actually prepared quills and parchment for him to sign in advance.
Krum actually wanted to refuse, but he finally signed autographs for the group of enthusiastic girls one by one, until Durmstrang finally chose to sit down at the Slytherin table and finally got rid of the group of enthusiastic fans.
Beauxbatons did not have this problem. They chose to sit down next to the Ravenclaw table. Albert thought it might be related to the corresponding banner on the Ravenclaw long table. There was no doubt that Beauxbatons preferred blue, which could be easily seen from their carriage and school emblem.
"Look at Professor McGonagall's expression!" Sana motioned Albert to look at the teacher's seat.
At this moment, Professor McGonagall's face was gloomy. She felt embarrassed that Hogwarts students asked Krum for his autograph. The other professors also looked unnatural.
Only Dumbledore was unaffected, still smiling and chatting with Madame Maxime on his left.
"I got Krum's autograph." Lee Jordan sat down next to Albert and excitedly announced the good news to everyone.
"It's a relief that you were able to get Krum's autograph. Those girls crowding over there are so annoying." Fred was a little annoyed. He and George were blocked outside by the group of girls and failed to get Krum's autograph.
"Don't worry, Krum will have to stay in Hogwarts for a long time, and you will always have a chance to get his autograph." Albert comforted casually.
After all the students were seated, the welcome banquet officially began. As usual, Dumbledore gave a short speech.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts, and distinguished guests," Dumbledore stood up from his seat in the teacher's seat, and the hall gradually became quiet. "Welcome to Hogwarts, I hope and believe that you will feel comfortable and happy here."
"The Triwizard Tournament will officially begin at the end of the banquet." Dumbledore raised his glass to everyone and said, "Now let's eat and drink as much as we can, just like at home!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the plates in front of them were piled with food as usual. There were more varieties of food, with many delicacies from other countries, mainly France and Italy. The Hogwarts menu had increased a lot because of Albert's house-elf.
"If I were you, I would try those new dishes." Albert pointed to the new dishes.
"Is it tasty?"
Fred followed Albert's example and made himself a bowl of French bouillabaisse. Most people would be a little resistant to food they had never eaten before.
"The new dishes are undoubtedly prepared for our foreign friends. I dare say they will not be used to the food at Hogwarts." Albert was actually right. Especially for the students of Beauxbatons, some of the dishes at Hogwarts were really hard to describe.
"Why?" Aaliyah asked in confusion.
"There are several countries with great food in the world, and France is one of them. When you stay in a country like that, your requirements for food will naturally be higher."
"Actually, I'm more curious about why the house-elves at Hogwarts can make pizza?" After finishing her bowl of French fish soup, Sana picked up a piece of Italian pizza overflowing with cheese.
"Well, I sent some recipes to the house elves in the kitchen last time."
Pizza is definitely not found at Hogwarts, and Albert suspects that the house-elf Beetee taught the recipe he learned to the house-elves at Hogwarts.
"I think that's because you want to eat, so you send recipes to the house elves in the kitchen at Christmas." George couldn't help but complain. In fact, they had eaten pizza made by house elves a long time ago, and also had seafood pasta, which was Albert's midnight snack. Everyone gained some weight.
"That's exactly what you would do." Shanna didn't find it strange. It might be because they came from a Muggle family as well, and many of their views were different from those of wizards born in the magical world.
"I agree with you, these foreign dishes taste really good."
After a while, several plates of foreign food were cleared away, and even the last piece of pizza went into Lee Jordan's stomach. On the contrary, there were still a lot of ordinary Hogwarts dishes left.
"Look over there, that girl seems to be coming this way." Lee Jordan nudged Albert with his elbow, motioning him to look up at the beauty.
"She really came this way. I think she must know Albert." Fred and George widened their eyes in surprise.
When Albert looked up, he saw a beautiful silver-haired girl walking over from a distance. She stood in front of him and said to him in fluent French, "Would you like to eat this plate of mixed fish soup?"
Albert looked around and pushed the plate to the other party: "You take it, and welcome to Hogwarts."
"She is so beautiful."
"There's no girl as pretty as this in Hogwarts!"
The girls were obviously annoyed by what had just been said, and they sneered rudely: "You are just staring at others like a bunch of idiots."
When the silver-haired girl passed by, many boys turned their heads and looked at her stupidly. However, what made the girls feel relieved was that Albert was not affected by her and was not attracted by her appearance at all.
"Do you know her?" Alia asked curiously.
"I've seen her before, but I'm not familiar with her." Albert paused and added, "Her name is Fleur Delacour. She is said to be a very good wizard. I think the champion of Beauxbatons should be her."
"I didn't expect you to think so highly of her." Angelina was a little unhappy. The girls didn't like that woman.
"I think she was trying to seduce you just now." Shanna said suddenly.
"She's met Isobel and knows I have a girlfriend." Albert shrugged and said, "Besides, it's useless for her to seduce me."
"You have a lot of friends," Fred said sadly. "The two American girls at the last World Cup were also very beautiful."
"Those two met at the Potions Championship. One of them is Isobel's pen pal, and they have a very good relationship." Albert noticed that the dessert was coming.
"What is this?" George asked, pointing at a white milk jelly, and helped Albert change the subject.
"It should be Italian fresh milk jelly." Albert found that there were many sweets on the table.
"Which one tastes better?" asked Shanna.
"I personally recommend the French baked pudding." Albert pointed to a dessert and said, "It tastes a bit like caramel pudding, but the taste is richer. The Italian fresh jelly tastes very good too."
Albert helped himself to a serving of crème brûlée and began to savor it slowly.
After finishing their desserts, everyone looked at Dumbledore, and an atmosphere of excitement and nervousness gradually filled the hall.
After the food on the golden plates completely disappeared, the banquet officially ended.
Dumbledore stood up again under everyone's expectant gazes and first introduced Barty Crouch, Director of the Ministry of Magic's International Cooperation Department, and Ludo Bagman, Director of the Ministry of Magic's Sports and Physical Education Department. He then announced that the two of them and the three headmasters would form the judging panel for the Triwizard Tournament.
Barty Crouch was not in good condition, he looked very tired, no doubt it was the sequelae of being under the Imperius Curse for a long time. Ludo Bagman also smiled reluctantly, he did not pay back the money on time last month, resulting in his temporary residence being found by goblins, and the goblins snatched away his salary which he had just received for a few days.
"I think this judging panel is unreliable. Dumbledore may be able to be fair, but the headmasters of other schools will definitely favor their own contestants," Shannah was skeptical about whether the judging panel could remain fair.
"This is also part of the tradition of the Triwizard Tournament." Albert was not surprised by the result.
While the two were chatting, Filch, who had been hiding somewhere, placed a large wooden box inlaid with jewels in front of Dumbledore.
Everyone's eyes fell on the rough wooden goblet that Dumbledore took out of the wooden box, and they held their breath, afraid to miss every word Dumbledore said next.
"Every student who wants to run for the champion must write his name and school name on a piece of parchment and throw it into this Goblet of Fire." Dumbledore introduced to everyone how to become a champion.
Looking at the wooden cup in front of them with blue and white flames burning, the students began to whisper.
"Tonight, I will place the Goblet of Fire in the entrance hall. All students who are willing to participate in the election can vote for it. Remember, students who want to become champions must sign up within 24 hours." Dumbledore raised his hand and signaled everyone to keep quiet: "Tomorrow night, which is Halloween night, the Goblet of Fire will select the champions of the three schools."
Dumbledore waited until everyone in the hall was quiet before continuing, "Finally, everyone please pay attention to two things: First, I will set an age line - underage wizards cannot cross this line."
"Second, once you are chosen as a champion by the Goblet of Fire, you must persevere to the end of the competition." Dumbledore's expression became very serious. "You can think that even if you lose a leg in the competition, you must participate in all the events on crutches. You should know why the Triwizard Tournament was cancelled. Although we have taken sufficient safety measures, the events are difficult and injuries are sometimes unavoidable."
After Dumbledore said these words, he was glared at by Professor McGonagall.
"This is not a joke. Everyone must think carefully and do not participate rashly. Because when you throw yourself into the Goblet of Fire, you will form a magical contract that must be obeyed. Violating the magical contract will require a price. Don't ask me what the price is. I can only say that no warrior can afford the price of violating the magical contract."
In fact, these words were inspired by Albert's previous words. He knew very well that sometimes the more you forbid them to participate, the more other students would rack their brains to participate.
His words were indeed cruel to the students, but sometimes these things should be talked out, so there won’t be so much trouble.
"Well, good night, everyone."
Everyone stared at Dumbledore in amazement. It was hard to imagine that those words had just come from the headmaster's mouth.
A buzz of discussion instantly rang out in the hall, and Dumbledore's words made many students who were eager to try give up their attempts.
"Are you going to sign up now?"
Fred pulled a quill and parchment from his pocket and handed them to Albert.
"Don't worry." Albert glanced at Moody and said with a smile, "Just sign up at breakfast tomorrow."
He actually wanted to throw his name into the Goblet of Fire right now, making all of Barty Jr.'s previous preparations a joke, but doing so would be too boring.
Professor Moody was indeed shocked just now. If Albert had signed up on the spot, their plan would have become a complete laughing stock.
When Albert and his three roommates left the auditorium, they saw Katrina standing at the door.
"What's the matter?" Albert asked.
"Well, can you come with me for a moment? Isobel wants me to pass something to you." Katrina said and turned to walk towards a deserted place.
"You guys go back first, I have something to deal with." Albert said to his roommate. Of course, he knew that this was a trap set by Peter and Barty Jr., but he would not just let Katrina be controlled by the Imperius Curse. In fact, he was also very curious about what the trap they set for him would be.
Albert followed Katrina to a deserted place, and saw Katrina take out a small long box from her pocket and handed it to Albert.
"What is this?" Albert asked suspiciously.
"I don't know." Katrina shook her head. "Isobel asked me to give it to you. She said it was a surprise for you."
"Surprise, anything else?" Albert looked up at Katrina who was restrained by the whole body binding spell, "Are you going to use the Imperius Curse on me?"
Albert ignored Katrina and glanced at the box in his hand. There was a small bottle in the package. Albert opened it and found that the bottle was filled with black tea, but..."
"Are you planning to use the Imperius Curse to control me, and then make me drink tea mixed with aphrodisiac?" Albert thought Peter's idea was good. If the effect of the aphrodisiac was strong enough, it would make him disappear for a day and miss the warrior selection perfectly.
"What should we do next?" Albert suddenly had a headache about how to end this. He had to pretend to be missing now, but where did Peter plan to hide them
So he came up with a bad idea and used a spell to modify Katrina's memory, making her think that he had successfully made Albert drink the love potion.
In order to prevent any accidents, Albert secretly confiscated Katrina's wand and stuffed a fake wand into her hand.
Then, he released the spell that bound his entire body.
"I like you, let's go on a date, okay?" After recovering, Katrina put her arm around Albert's arm and leaned her head against him.
"Okay, where do you want to go?" Albert said gently.
"There's a great place for a date on the eighth floor." Katrina took Albert directly to the eighth floor and went straight to the Room of Requirement.
"Peter peeked at Katrina's memory?" Albert couldn't help but frown. He was a little worried that Peter was hiding in the Room of Requirement. If he went in and was ambushed by the other party, he would be in trouble.
"I know how to use this place. Let me do it." Albert said as he took the initiative to try to get a room. He was relieved when he found that there was no one in the room.
As soon as the two of them entered the Room of Requirement, Katrina started to get close to Albert again. If you didn't know, you would think that she was drugged, not Albert.
However, one thing is certain, Peter not only used the Imperius Curse to control Katrina, but also modified some of her memories, making her completely obsessed with him, otherwise Katrina would never be like this now.
"If Isobel knew about this, she would go crazy." Albert just raised his wand and was about to help Katrina get rid of the Imperius Curse, but the girl had already thrown her down on the sofa and rode on Albert. "Can you break up with Isobel? I can be your girlfriend. I can do the same as Isobel does for you."
Albert quickly used full body restraints to immobilize Katrina to prevent the situation from getting out of control, then found the powerful recovery agent he had prepared a while ago. After removing the full body restraints, he directly gave her a large cup of the powerful recovery agent, and then used several powerful curse-breaking magic on her.
Albert saw Katrina shaking her head in confusion, and she seemed to be trying to break free from the control of the Imperius Curse.
"Are you okay?" Albert poured her another cup of powerful recovery potion and asked her to drink it. After testing several more powerful breaking spells, Katrina finally broke free from the control of the Imperius Curse and returned to normal.
“I… why am I here.” Katrina was still a little confused when she just recovered, but she seemed to remember something, her ears turned red, and she shrank into a ball all of a sudden, burying her head in her knees, too ashamed to look directly at Albert.
"It seems that you have already escaped from the control of the Imperius Curse." Albert breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that Peter should not intend to use the Imperius Curse to control Katrina, otherwise it would be absolutely impossible for Katrina to break free so easily.
"It's not your fault. I should be the one who should be sorry." Albert reached out and touched Katrina's head.
"Don't tell Isobel." Katrina looked up suddenly, with a few tears in her red eyes.
"I will keep it a secret, I promise." Albert said seriously, "It was me who caused you to be cast under the Imperius Curse. That person just wanted you to hold me back and prevent me from participating in the Triwizard Tournament."
"Hold you." Katrina was a little confused.
"He used a love potion," Albert explained patiently, "so that no one would notice anything was wrong. He didn't want to alert Dumbledore. For this reason, I suspect he also modified part of your memory to make you fall madly in love with me, so that it would be reasonable for him to use a love potion on me."
"But... why should we stop you from participating in the competition, and..." Katrina took Albert's handkerchief and wiped her tears before asking, "Do you know who cast the Imperius Curse on me?"
"Professor Moody, although there is no evidence, I think it should be him."
"Professor Moody, why would he do this? Doesn't he want you to win the Triwizard Cup for Hogwarts?"
"His target is definitely not me. He probably wants someone to win the championship. I suspect it's Harry. We'll know tomorrow if Harry really becomes a warrior." Albert poured a cup of potion for Katrina.
"What's this?"
"The sedative can stabilize your emotions." Albert explained, "I need to check your memory and restore the modified memories to normal. I should have asked Isobel to do this. She is an expert in this area. However, I think you probably don't want her to know about this!"
"Is there really a way to make one person like another person more?" Katrina was a little confused.
"It can be done by implanting false memories." Albert nodded. "Then I will teach you the art of brain occlusion."
"What are you going to do if Professor Moody did it?" Katrina asked through gritted teeth.
"Let's first find out what that guy's purpose is. To be honest, I suspect that he might be an imposter, or even a Death Eater, and his purpose of sneaking into Hogwarts is to harm Harry." Albert directly stated his speculation, "If you want, we can modify his memory or turn him into an idiot like Lockhart."
"I think a permanent bed at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries would be more suitable for him than Azkaban." Katrina's eyes flashed with hatred. She almost... If Albert... She really didn't know how this matter would end.