When the flame in the goblet turned red again, with a burst of sparks flying, tongues of fire jumped high into the air, and a third piece of parchment was thrown high from the flames.
Dumbledore reached out and took it, holding it far away and looking at the name on the note.
This time he took longer than the previous two times, and his brows were slightly frowned. Everyone in the auditorium looked at Dumbledore nervously.
Then, Dumbledore cleared his throat and read aloud -
"The Champion of Hogwarts," he shouted, "is Harry Potter!"
There was no applause.
A buzzing sound began to fill the auditorium, like countless angry bees chirping. Some students even stood up, as if they wanted to take a good look at Harry, but Harry sat stiffly in his seat, as if frozen.
Compared to Maka, who broke through Dumbledore's age limit in public, the fact that Harry's name appeared in the Goblet of Fire was really hard for everyone to accept.
Among them, Cedric Diggory of Hufflepuff House suddenly stood up, with an expression of disbelief on his face.
Professor McGonagall stood up at the guest chair, walked quickly past Ludo Bagman and Professor Orson, and whispered urgently in Professor Dumbledore's ear. Dumbledore listened attentively and frowned slightly. brow.
Harry turned to look at Ron and Hermione. He saw the students at the long Gryffindor table behind them staring at him with their mouths open.
"I didn't put my name in," Harry said blankly. "You know I didn't."
They were also confused and stared at him blankly.
But Maka was not surprised by this, because this was something that was planned.
At this time, he stood at the door of the next room, glancing at Professor Moody at the guest of honor seat seemingly casually, and then returned his gaze to Dumbledore.
At the guest of honor seat, Professor Dumbledore straightened up and nodded towards Professor McGonagall.
"Harry Potter!" he shouted again. "Harry! Please come up here!"
"Go ahead," Hermione urged quietly, nudging Harry slightly.
Harry stood up and stumbled slightly on the hem of his robes.
He walked along the passage between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables. He felt that this road seemed extremely long, and the guest of honor seat seemed always so far away.
He could feel hundreds of pairs of eyes staring at him, as if each eye couldn't be a searchlight.
The buzzing chatter became louder and louder.
However, something unexpected happened - the flame in the goblet turned red again! Sparks crackled out, and a long tongue of fire suddenly jumped into the air, and another piece of parchment was held up on it.
As if subconsciously, Dumbledore stretched out a slender hand and gently took the note in his hand.
Harry was only halfway there, but he didn't even know if he should keep walking. For a moment, he seemed to be under a body-binding spell, frozen in place.
Dumbledore raised the parchment far away again, with no expression on his face, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.
After a long time, even longer than the time it took to announce Harry's name for the third time, Dumbledore finally shouted out the fourth name of the day -
"Hermione Granger."
Different from Harry's treatment just now, when Hermione's name rang out, the whole place was silent - everyone was stunned by this additional candidate.
No one expected that there would be a fourth hero!
Maka, who was standing at the door of the room with a calm expression, now frowned tightly. He turned his gaze again to Moody, who was sitting on the far right side of the guest of honor, his eyes as cold as polar ice.
This surprise that silenced the entire audience was something that even he was not mentally prepared for.
Voldemort was angry about the inexplicable failure that year and wanted to deal with Harry - he knew this, and he even had a share of the credit for Harry being chosen as the third warrior.
However, he didn't hear that a fourth candidate would appear!
"Why Hermione?"
There is no doubt that Voldemort must have meant that the Goblet of Fire threw the note with Hermione's name on it. Apart from that, Maka couldn't think of anyone else who would do this.
However, why would Voldemort do this? What good does this do to him
While Maka was puzzled and was leaning against the door frame in deep thought, Hermione was even more confused.
"How...how could it be? I didn't...how could this happen?"
Hermione looked around at a loss, her long, messy brown hair being tossed around helplessly. Her eyes seemed to have no focus, and her expression was flustered and confused.
If Harry was frightened just now, then it was entirely because Hermione could not accept this fact.
When Hermione was a Muggle girl, she was accustomed to obeying all rules and regulations, and any behavior that exceeded the rules would be intolerable to her. Even when she first entered Hogwarts, she was so persistent.
But under the influence of someone, she would occasionally ignore the rules and put her own values first. But in normal times, she would still habitually abide by school rules and follow the rules as much as possible.
But now, when an incident that was almost a frame-up happened to her, she was completely panicked.
"What to do? What to do? What to do?"
Under everyone's silent gaze, Hermione's hands trembled. She wanted to tell everyone that she didn't put her name in the goblet - but she didn't know how.
The arrogant girl who was usually eloquent has now completely turned into a dull person.
"Please come here!" Dumbledore shouted to Harry who stopped on the way, and Hermione who had a confused look in his eyes.
Hermione didn't know how she ended up in front of Dumbledore, and she didn't even know that Harry was standing next to her. She just felt as if all the teachers' eyes were fixed on her.
"Okay... go to that door." When Dumbledore said this, there was no smile on his face.
Harry and Hermione walked forward together along the staff table.
Hagrid sat on the far left. He didn't wink, wave, or say hello to Harry as he usually did. He seemed completely stunned, and just stared at the two of them passing in front of him like everyone else.
They passed through the door and out of the Great Hall, finding themselves in a small room with portraits of wizards hanging on the walls. In the hearth opposite him a fire was burning brightly.
Maka, who was standing by the door just now, has returned to the room. Now he is standing in front of the fireplace with Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons, talking intermittently.
When Harry and the others walked in, Fleur Delacour turned her head and shook her cascading silver hair.
"What's wrong?" she asked. "Do they want us to go back to the auditorium?"
She thought Harry and Hermione had come in to deliver a message!
Maka reached out and rubbed her eyebrows, and said calmly: "No, they are also warriors, from Hogwarts."
"... Oh?" Fleur pushed back the silver hair that had fallen to her ears, and then said with an elegant smile, "I didn't expect that Mr. MacLean is not only very powerful, but also so funny."
At the door, Harry and Hermione were silent with different expressions. They didn't know how to explain the situation just now.
At this time, there was a rush of footsteps outside the door, and Ludo Bagman walked into the room. He grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him forward, saying hello to Hermione.
"It's so bizarre!" He squeezed Harry's arm hard and murmured in a low voice, "It's absolutely too bizarre! Gentlemen... Madam -"
He walked towards the fireside and said to Fleur and Maka: "Please allow me to introduce - although it seems incredible - this is the third warrior of the Triwizard Tournament, Harry Potter! And this one is... The Fourth Warrior, yes, the Fourth, she is Hermione Granger!"
"Yes, I just saw it." Maka waved her hand casually.
Hearing Bagman say the same thing, Fleur couldn't help but frown.
"This was obviously a mistake," she said haughtily to Bagman. "She can't play, and they can't—they're too young."
"Yeah... it's really surprising," Bagman rubbed his smooth chin and said with a smile, "But you also know that the age limit was only implemented this year as an additional security measure. Since their names start from high Squirting out of the footcup... I mean, I don't think we're allowed to run away now that we've gotten to this point. The rules are very clear and you have to abide by them - Harry has to do his best."
"Of course, the same goes for Miss Granger." He finally added, seemingly thinking of Hermione.
The door behind them was pushed open again, and a large group of people came in: Professor Dumbledore, followed closely by Mr. Crouch, Professor Orson, Mrs. Maxim, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Snape.
Before Professor McGonagall opened the door, the buzzing chatter of hundreds of students in the auditorium next door flooded into Harry and Hermione's ears.
"Madame Maxime!" Fleur shouted as she strode towards her principal, "They said these two children are also going to participate in the competition!"
"child?"
Although Harry felt incredible and his mind was numb, he also felt a flash of anger flashing through his heart. But Hermione just lowered her head and clasped her hands tightly together, like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered.
Madame Maxime straightened her tall figure. Her head even touched the chandelier filled with candles, and her huge breasts in black satin clothes rose and fell violently.
"What exactly does this mean, Dumbledore?" she said arrogantly, "That's all Mr. MacLean. His strength gives us no reason to prevent him from participating in this competition, but..."
"I also want to know what happened when two warriors came out of Hogwarts?" Professor Orson of Durmstrang couldn't help but ask, but Maca secretly handed him a He gave a look that said nothing.