According to past habits, most students at Hogwarts would go to breakfast very late. However, today everyone couldn't wait to get up early.
When Harry, Ron and Hermione came downstairs to the entrance hall, they saw more than twenty people gathered around. Some students still had bread in their mouths, and they were all looking at the Goblet of Fire carefully.
The cup was placed in the center of the foyer, on the stool where the Sorting Hat was placed each year during the Sorting. A thin line of gold was drawn on the floor, ten feet long on each side, surrounding the cup.
"Has anyone put a name in?" Ron asked a third-grade girl eagerly.
"Yes, all of Durmstrang's representatives," she answered, "except Maclean... oh, I mean, if he can get through that golden thread."
"Has anyone voted in our school?" Ron asked again.
"Someone must have put the name in while we were sleeping last night." Harry said, "If it were me, I would do this... I don't want everyone to see it. If the cup crumbles your name into a ball and throws it out, that's a big deal. Shame on you!"
Someone behind Harry laughed. He looked back and saw Fred, George and Lee Jordan hurrying down the stairs, all three of them looking extremely excited.
"It's done," Fred whispered to Harry, Ron and Hermione in a triumphant tone. "Just drank it."
"What?" Ron asked.
"Age-enhancing drugs, you idiot," Fred said.
…
When Maka walked to the hall, he happened to hear a hissing sound.
Then, the Weasley twins suddenly flew towards him from the center of the hall and fell painfully on the cold stone ground ten feet away.
With a loud popping sound, identical long white beards sprouted from the chins of the two men.
For a moment, the little wizards around him burst into laughter. Even Fred and George couldn't help laughing when they got up and saw each other's white beards.
"I warned you."
A low, smiling voice suddenly sounded behind Maka. Everyone turned their heads and saw Professor Dumbledore walking in from the door.
He looked at Fred and George with a twinkle in his eye. "I suggest that you both go to Madam Pomfrey. She is already nursing Miss Fawcett from Ravenclaw and Sasha from Hufflepuff." Mr. Meuse, they both also made up their minds to increase their age a little bit."
"But I must say, their beards are far less beautiful than yours."
Because of Dumbledore's words, everyone laughed louder.
However, at this time, Maka walked to the golden thread. He squatted down and tapped it lightly with his wand.
"It's the rules again..."
Obviously Dumbledore also understands the rules and can even apply them more skillfully. Maka was not surprised by this.
Rather, with Dumbledore's unfathomable magical strength, it would be something that would surprise him if he had not yet touched upon the rules.
It's a pity that Maka still doesn't have the ability to "see" magic power by himself, and he can't quickly analyze the rules contained in it.
But for him now, it is not necessary to analyze the rules. Regarding how to pass it, Maka has already been prepared.
Fundamentally speaking, if you want to prevent little wizards under the age of 17 from passing the Golden Thread, the first thing you need to do is to find out the age of the entrant.
Putting aside the difficulty in applying the rules, what Maka had to do was very simple, which was to block all detection of his body and soul.
Use rules to fight rules, simple and direct but effective.
The next moment, Maka stepped into the range of the golden thread under the surprised eyes of the little wizards.
However, the situation was not as simple as Maka imagined.
When he took the second step, the familiar hissing sound sounded again, and he immediately saw that the space around him seemed to be slightly distorted.
He understood that it was not that the space was distorting, but that the detection rules collided with the blocking rules he prepared.
Just this morning, he drew a rune pattern composed of Phoenician magic words on his arm, but it was obvious that Dumbledore's power of rules was purer and more powerful than his.
He could even clearly feel that the rune pattern on his left arm was constantly consuming the magic power in his body. The gradual loss of physical strength at this moment is the best proof.
Maka immediately sped up her movements, quickly walked to the Goblet of Fire, and hurriedly threw the note in her hand into the rising blue-white flames in the goblet.
The Goblet of Fire accepted his registration, and the note was quickly devoured by the flames.
After completing the task, Maka immediately turned around and left the area marked by the golden line, stood outside and let out a sigh of relief. Then he looked up and gave Dumbledore a calm look.
At this time, Dumbledore was looking here equally calmly, with a sharp light shining from his pale blue pupils behind his half-moon lenses.
Unlike these two parties, the other students present were so surprised that their mouths opened wide. No one expected that there would actually be students under the age of 17 who could pass the golden line drawn by Dumbledore himself.
Everyone couldn't help but discuss in a low voice, guessing how Maka got through; from time to time, they even gave Maka a look of admiration or surprise.
After a while, the students all looked back at Dumbledore to see what explanation he would give. Whether to approve or reject, this may be a very difficult choice.
"Mr. Maclean used his magical knowledge to cross the age limit I set. I have to say, this is something I didn't expect..." Dumbledore started, "Although I personally want to applaud him, but Mac Mr. Lane’s behavior violates the rules of the Triwizard Tournament. I have to discuss it with other members of the judging panel to decide whether Mr. McClain’s registration is valid.”
"What do you think, Mr. MacLean?"
What Dumbledore said made sense, and Maka had no reason to object. He nodded and expressed his willingness to wait for the referee's decision.
At this moment, other students who wanted to register also came here one after another, and the surrounding suddenly became a lot more lively.
"…McLean."
Maka was about to leave the hall and turned around, only to find that it was his former senior, Cedric Diggory, the prefect of Hufflepuff House.
"McLean, you..." He hesitated, a troubled expression on his handsome face, "Do you really have to leave Hogwarts?"
"Oh, I think so." Maka nodded casually and gave a positive answer.
"But -" Diggory's voice suddenly became louder, "but I don't think you should leave here! You are the last person who should leave here!"
Ignoring the surprised looks from the students around him, he continued: "I still remember the graduate farewell party you held for the seniors. I still remember you personally telling everyone about the beauty of school life. I still remember... everyone shouted '' We're all Hogwarts'!"
"But you are the one who leads everyone to understand the beauty of campus life, the one who leads everyone to shout 'We are all Hogwarts', but -"
Maka looked calmly at Digory, who looked angry, and suddenly reached out and patted his shoulder.
"Then you use facts to prove to me that my choice was wrong; make Hogwarts a better place and make me regret the decision I made before."
Digory clenched his fist and said loudly: "I will prove it to you!"
After that, he quickly walked to the Goblet of Fire, threw the parchment with his name on it into the flames, and left without looking back.
The Beauxbatons students who were coming in from the outside had to move aside, allowing Digory, who looked angry, to pass through the door.
Madame Maxime followed her students into the hall. She frowned as she watched Digory leave quickly, and ordered the students to line up.
One by one, the Beauxbatons students crossed the age line and threw their parchments into the blue-white flames in perfect order.
When Fleur Delacour, who had Veela blood, passed by Maka, she smiled elegantly and said, "Why don't you come to Beauxbatons?"
The news that Maka broke the age limit quickly spread among the students of the three major colleges, and many people were waiting to see the voting results of the referee panel.
In fact, many people are reluctant to see Maka successfully register.
Regarding Maka's strength, it had been spread through newspapers in the wizarding world in various countries before the semester started. As the most influential "Daily Prophet" in the British wizarding community, its headlines were published in many magical newspapers in various countries. All of them were reprinted, and Maka’s deeds had already become a hot topic.
After all, no one wants to see this long-lost Triwizard Tournament become a stage show for Maka alone.
Of course, there are always pros and cons to every thing, and some students are happy to see Maka become one of the three warriors. Most of these students belong to Durmstrang College.
Before Maka entered Durmstrang, the most popular person in the school was naturally Krum; and now, Maka firmly occupies this position.
In any case, Durmstrang's warrior candidates are nothing more than these two.
When the possibility of being selected is slim, everyone will naturally be more inclined to see a game that is won by the warriors of their own school.
But what disappoints everyone is that the voting results of the referee panel have not been announced for a long time.
At the same time, a girl who didn't care about these things was hiding in her room, stroking a photo hanging in the air with her wand while pouting and muttering in a low voice.
"... I told you to talk about nothing! I told you to talk tomorrow! I told you that you are sleepy... I told you to talk about nothing... "