"They can't stop me from participating!" Even though Dumbledore had already called off the event, Fred still said stubbornly, "As a warrior, we can openly do many things that we are not allowed to do normally, and there is also a bonus of one thousand Galleons!"
"Yeah," Ron also showed a dazed look on his face, "Yeah, one thousand Galleons..."
"I've done the math. Even though we won a lot from the bet with Bagman, it's still a long way from enough to open a good joke shop," George said.
He took out a piece of parchment from somewhere, on which were densely written numbers, all of which were the expenses necessary to open a joke shop.
"Wait, you guys are so good at math?" Ron looked at the parchment and couldn't help swallowing his saliva. "So when you were choosing your courses in your third year, you already thought about this day, so you chose that boring math divination course?"
"Arithmetic Divination is not boring at all!" Hermione retorted, "Let's not talk about this for now. We should leave quickly. If we don't leave now, we will be the only ones left in the whole hall."
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred and George started towards the entrance hall. Fred and George continued to argue about what measures Dumbledore would take to prevent students under the age of seventeen from taking part in the Tournament.
"Who will be the fairest judge of who is the champion?" Harry asked.
"I don't know," said Fred, "but whoever that man is, he's the one we want to deceive. I think a drop or two of the anti-aging drug would do the trick, George..."
"But Dumbledore knows you are not old enough." Ron asked.
"Yes, but who will be the champion is not decided by Dumbledore, right?" Fred raised his eyebrows. "According to Dumbledore, it seems that after the referee knows who wants to participate, he will pick the best one from each school..."
"I don't think he cares how old we are. Dumbledore is clearly trying to stop us from signing up!"
"But so many people died in previous Triwizard Tournaments!" Hermione said in a worried tone as she walked through a door hidden behind a tapestry.
"Yeah," said George nonchalantly, "but that was years ago, wasn't it? And what's the fun without a little adventure?"
"If only that fair judge had a personality like Professor Dracula, I would only need to tell him two funny jokes and he would definitely let me register..."
"Wake up, George!" Fred interrupted him mercilessly, "Professor Dracula has nothing to do with the word 'fairness'!"
…
The next day, in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class, Dracula pushed open the classroom door lazily as usual.
This school year, there are relatively few students in the sixth-grade Defense Against the Dark Arts intensive class.
This is because the Dueling Club replaced Dracula's function of entertaining the little wizards, so the Defense Against the Dark Arts class was no longer so interesting to Dracula.
He just wants to be lazy now and teach as few people as possible.
To this end, he deliberately adjusted the Defense Against the Dark Arts intensive class from accepting the worst grade, that is, students who received the "T (terrible)" grade in the ordinary wizard grade, to only accepting students who received the "O (outstanding)" grade.
More than half of the desks in the classroom were empty, and there were not many students in the entire grade who could get an "O".
Unfortunately, Fred and George, these two funny guys, had too much fun in the duel club, and their defense against the dark arts increased rapidly.
Among their few OWLs, apart from Arithmancy that Ron mentioned earlier, only Defense Against the Dark Arts got an "O".
As soon as Dracula entered the classroom, he saw Fred and George sitting in their seats with their heads held high, with a look of "Come and praise me" on their faces.
"Are there only a few students who got 'O'? I'm disappointed." Dracula looked around and was satisfied to see that there were not many people here, but he still showed a disappointed expression on the surface.
"Of course, I would like to congratulate all the students here who have excellent grades and are qualified to continue to sit in this classroom and attend classes!"
Hearing Dracula's words, which could barely be considered a compliment, Fred and George smiled with satisfaction.
"Before the class officially starts, I have a few words to say to you—" Dracula continued with an intriguing smile on his face, "You have already heard from Dumbledore that this school year, the Triwizard Tournament... No, the Quadruple Tournament will be held in Hogwarts."
"As the subject that tests practical ability the most, Defense Against the Dark Arts is closely related to this match. So in my opinion, the Hogwarts Champion will most likely be selected from those sitting here and from the seventh-year advanced class students."
It was obvious that all the students in the classroom were perked up and even their sitting postures became straighter subconsciously.
Everyone wants to be the only glorious warrior in Hogwarts.
There is no young and energetic wizard who does not want to bring glory to the school, and no one does not want to stand in the center of the spotlight and receive cheers and applause from all the teachers and students in the school.
"Don't get too excited too soon," Dracula chuckled, looked at Fred and George carefully, and began to dampen their enthusiasm. "The prerequisite for becoming a warrior is that you must be seventeen years old before the warrior selection ceremony begins on Halloween!"
"This isn't fair!" Fred was the first to jump up and yell, "We'll only be four months away from turning seventeen on Halloween!"
"That's right, we want to protest!" George followed suit and jumped up.
He also pulled up Cedric, who was sitting next to him and preparing to listen to the class, and pointed at him and said:
"Cedric is only less than half a year older than us, and he entered school in the same year as us. If he can register and we can't, we will never accept it!"
"That can only mean that you are unlucky." Dracula shrugged. "It is undeniable that luck is also a form of strength."
"Professor!" Fred wailed, "Can't you please be flexible? We are so close to signing up!"
Sometimes, if people are far from their goals, they tend not to feel very sad.
But if one is just a little bit away from achieving the goal but fails in the end, people will be sad, painful, and itchy to the point of going crazy.
This is the case with Fred and George. The age difference of only four months really drives them crazy.
"I'm not the fair judge. What's the point of you complaining to me?" Dracula chuckled. "Instead of yelling in vain in my class, you might as well study how to deceive the 'referee'."
"That's what you said, Professor!" George's eyes lit up.
"Professor, you must have a way to deceive the referee, right?" Fred said happily, "If not, just tell us. We can save some energy and study more on how to win the championship."
"Are you so sure that you will be chosen?" Dracula looked at the twins and shook his head with a smile, "Figure it out on your own! If you can deceive the 'referee' with your strength, then it is your own strength."
"If you apply for the school with this kind of 'hard power', the students of Hogwarts will at least not feel dissatisfied with you. Even Dumbledore will most likely condone such a thing."
"So, work hard, two young men!"
Fred and George looked at each other, nodded heavily, then sat down in their chairs and began to read.
It's on fire!
"Don't sit down just yet..." Dracula interrupted their fantasy, and the smile on his face became a little malicious, "You deserve to be punished for making loud noises in class without reason."
"How about this, all Defense Against the Dark Arts homework before Halloween must be doubled!"
George: “…”
Fred: “…”
…
The time that followed seemed to be exactly the same as previous years, but it also seemed a little different.
All courses are taught according to the previous course progress as usual. There are still many homeworks, in-class exercises, duel clubs, etc., all waiting for the young wizards to complete.
The Quidditch match was cancelled, but the students did not feel bored without this entertainment activity.
Those who were old enough were thinking about how to qualify for the Warriors, and if they were elected as Warriors, how they could win the game and bring honor to the school... Those who were younger, such as Fred and George, were thinking about how to deceive the referee who was so fair that he couldn't be more fair, and then report their own names.
Apart from that, younger wizards like Harry have nothing to do with the Final Four.
They had nothing to worry about, except that they would occasionally fantasize about something lucky enough to fall from the sky, thinking that they might be noticed to be extraordinary and be chosen as an exception to be a warrior to fight for Hogwarts.
In addition to fantasizing, the young wizards in the middle and lower grades also discuss from time to time, guessing which wizard from which academy will be able to become a champion of Hogwarts.
"I guarantee that our Slytherin prefect Lucian Bol will become a champion of Hogwarts. Professor Snape has always had high hopes for him."
Just before Halloween, Draco Malfoy stood in front of the entrance hall of the Great Hall, chatting with his two followers.
"Wrong, I think Roger Davis from Ravenclaw has more hope!" A Ravenclaw eagle wearing a blue striped tie retorted, "Davis is the best Quidditch team captain this year."
"I think Cedric Diggory from Hufflepuff would be the champion." The person who said this was obviously a little badger.
The hallway was crowded with people discussing animatedly and reading the new notice on the notice board—
"Representatives from Beauxbatons, Durmstrang, and Invermorny will arrive at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, October 30. Afternoon classes will end half an hour early. Students are requested to return their backpacks and textbooks to their dormitories, gather in front of the castle to greet our guests, and then attend the welcome banquet."
"Great!" said Harry excitedly. "The last class on Friday is Potions! Snape will definitely not have time to find fault with us again!"
Harry's voice caught the attention of Malfoy who was not far away.
"Hey, isn't this the famous Harry Potter?" He turned his head and looked at Harry with a provocative look, "I'm curious, does a big star like Potter think he can definitely become a champion of Hogwarts?"
"I didn't!" said Harry angrily.
But Malfoy obviously had no intention of letting him go. He pointed his chin at Harry and said sarcastically:
"Famous Harry Potter, if you don't become a champion of Hogwarts in the end, will other schools think that the Boy Who Lived is not worthy of the title?"
"Anyway, Harry has a much greater chance of becoming a warrior than you!" Just when Harry was extremely angry, another voice suddenly spoke up for him.
Harry turned his head to see Fred and George standing over him, making faces at Malfoy.
"How ridiculous! Someone actually thought Potter could be a warrior!" Malfoy laughed loudly. "Oh! So it's two Weisses. That's perfectly normal."
"Do you dare to bet?" George was not angry at all, but said with a grin.
In their eyes, the purebloods in Slytherin were their customers, and sooner or later they would lose all their money to them, so of course they would not be unhappy about the slightest offense from their customers.
"What?" Malfoy was stunned.
"I say, do you dare to bet?" George repeated, "I'll bet five Galleons that Harry can become the champion of Hogwarts!"
"Wait, don't be impulsive, George!" Harry was stunned himself, and quickly pulled George aside, "Fred, please try to persuade him! There's no need to waste the five Galleons you are going to use to open the store just to vent your anger on me."
However, Fred was not moved at all, and instead winked at Harry.
"I'll take the bet!" Malfoy suddenly pulled out a handful of gold Galleons from his pocket and handed them over, fearing that George would go back on his word. "It's such a good thing, it would be better if you could give me more!"
He had lost a lot of Galleons to the Weiss twins in previous school years and had always felt very embarrassed.
Now that he saw this kind of business that was sure to make a profit, he was ready to make up for all the face he had lost in the past at once!
After Malfoy left, Harry glanced at the twins worriedly.
"Why are you betting on me to become a champion of Hogwarts? I'm not even old enough to even sign up," he said helplessly.
"It doesn't matter. We've already got the aging potion." Fred winked at Harry. "When the time comes, just drink a few more sips and you can fool the fair referee."
"You are the savior of the British wizarding world. If you are not a warrior, who will be one?"
…
…