Harry sat there dumbfounded, aware that every head in the hall was turning to look at him.
He was stunned, his mind went blank.
Unlike when the previous four warriors were selected, there was no applause in the auditorium at this moment.
A buzz of discussion began to fill the auditorium, as if countless angry bees were buzzing.
Some of the students stood up to get a better look at Harry, but Harry sat frozen in his seat as if he were under a petrification spell.
They looked at Harry's still childish face, and their hearts were filled with doubts... Even if he was the boy who survived the disaster, he was too young at this moment.
Moreover, the fact that two warriors were born in Hogwarts, the host, does not prove that the competition is unfair? Isn't the age limit also meaningless
The first to break the silence were Fred and George.
After a brief moment of surprise, the twins suddenly jumped up and strode towards the Slytherin table.
"Malfoy, your Galleons belong to us!" Fred laughed loudly, "See, Harry really has become a warrior!"
"That's impossible!" Malfoy blurted out.
He looked at the note in Dumbledore's hand in disbelief, then looked at Harry, who was sitting at the Gryffindor table with a dazed look on his face, his eyes almost spitting fire.
"A shady deal! It's definitely a shady deal!" Malfoy protested loudly, "I remember clearly that Potter was only fourteen years old! He is even younger than me, how could he cross the age limit!"
Obviously, not only students from the other three schools would be dissatisfied with this result, Malfoy's protest also resonated with many Hogwarts students.
People are not worried about scarcity but inequality. This has been the case since ancient times.
It would be fine if this competition strictly adhered to the age limit regulations, but if there was even one exception, the young wizards would inevitably feel extremely conflicted.
Everyone wants to be the exception, everyone thinks that they have the potential to be the exception, but at the same time, no one is willing to accept that the exception is not themselves!
Malfoy felt very happy about the attention.
He smiled unconsciously, ran a handful of gel-covered light blond hair, and prepared to reveal "the various crimes Harry Potter committed at Hogwarts."
"You may not know that Potter has been dishonest since he first entered school. He..."
"Shut up, Draco!"
Just as Malfoy was about to start a long speech, a voice suddenly interrupted him.
He originally thought that it was those little Harry fans in Gryffindor who were shouting in frustration, and was about to ignore it and then completely discredit his arch-enemy in public.
However, Crabbe and Goyle, who were beside Malfoy, nudged him in the ribs with their elbows.
"What are you two doing? Do you want to stop me?" Malfoy looked at his two followers with impatience.
Crab shook his head hesitantly, motioning him to look towards the professor's seat.
Malfoy turned his head in confusion and found that his headmaster was staring at him with cold eyes.
"Professor, how come you..."
"Be quiet, and don't let me hear your noisy voice again." Snape said coldly.
"But… "
Malfoy hesitated, but finally shut his mouth.
He couldn't understand why the Slytherin Headmaster, who usually hated Potter the most, seemed to be standing up for Potter today
At the same time, Snape, whose thoughts could not be guessed, stood up with a gloomy face and looked at Dumbledore, who was standing in the middle of the professors' seats.
At this time, Professor McGonagall was whispering anxiously in Dumbledore's ear, while Dumbledore was listening attentively with a slight frown on his face.
"Principal Dumbledore, I want to know what the reason is?" Snape asked directly without caring that Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall were talking.
"Calm down a little, Severus. Minerva and I are already discussing countermeasures." Dumbledore said softly.
"Calm down? How can you ask me to calm down!" Snape roared in a low voice, "Don't you know the mortality rate of the Triwizard Tournament? Letting students of this age go to the competition is nothing more than suicide! "
He glanced from afar towards the Gryffindor table and in the direction of Harry. The disgust in his eyes had not subsided at all, but there was also an indescribable worry in it, which appeared in the same eyes in a very contradictory way.
"No, Potter must not participate in the semi-finals!" Snape said firmly.
"Severus, this contract has been established!" Dumbledore said solemnly, "Once the contract of the Goblet of Fire is established, the contestants must complete every task, otherwise they will be subject to the most severe punishment for violating the contract..."
"Do you want Harry to completely lose the ability to use magic and become a Muggle from now on?"
Snape's lips tightened.
"Is there no way to cancel this contract?" He glanced at Dumbledore and then turned his gaze to Dracula.
At this time, Dracula had curiously come to the Goblet of Fire, studying the runes on the Goblet of Fire and the magic contained therein with great interest.
"Hmm? Don't look at me. I have no way to cancel the contract." Dracula noticed Snape's gaze, smiled and shook his head. "Once a contract is established, it already exists in the blood of the wizard. No external force can deprive it."
Of course, Dracula himself doesn't care about the restrictions of various contracts at all.
Because there is no contract that can restrain him, those contractual punishments that deprive him of magic power, blood, and even life have no effect on Dracula's physique...
However, as an ordinary little wizard, Harry obviously couldn't deal with the contract punishment from the Goblet of Fire, so he could only participate in the Four-Strike Tournament from beginning to end... or now it can be said to be the Five-Strike Tournament.
While Dumbledore and Snape fell silent, Dracula was still circling around the Goblet of Fire in the middle of the professors' seats with great interest. With burgundy light flowing in his eyes, he repeatedly looked at the cup burning with blue and white flames.
"Any findings, Professor Dracula?" Dumbledore asked.
"Well... I did find something." Dracula said, "It can be seen that this Goblet of Fire was cursed by someone when we were not paying attention. I have to say that this is really an excellent Confusion Charm that can actually have an effect on this cup."
"Confusion spell?!" Professor McGonagall opened her eyes wide in surprise.
"It is indeed a Confusion Spell. The magical aura in the cup will remain for a while." Dracula said with interest, "This kind of magical residue is easy to identify. It is obviously a trace of the Confusion Spell."
"Judging from the time, it should have been late at night after the banquet ended yesterday when a sneaky figure came out and cast a spell on the Goblet of Fire."
"As for who it is... I have no idea at all!"
…
Offstage, Harry turned and looked at Ron and Hermione.
He saw that the students at the long Gryffindor table behind them were staring at him with their mouths open.
"I didn't put my name in," said Harry helplessly. "You know I didn't. I stayed with you all the time!"
Ron and Hermione also looked confused and stared at him blankly.
In this way, Harry sat in his seat, waiting for Dumbledore and the professors to punish him...
"Harry Potter!" Harry sat at the Gryffindor table for so long that his legs were almost numb, that he finally heard Dumbledore's voice at the front of the hall, "Harry! Please come here!"
"Go ahead," Hermione urged quietly, nudging Harry gently.
In his nervousness, Harry stood up and ended up stepping on the hem of his robes, stumbling slightly.
He quickly adjusted his pace and walked along the passage between the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables.
Harry could feel hundreds of eyes staring at him, as if every eye was a searchlight, trying to see through him completely.
The buzz of discussion grew louder and louder, and it seemed like a whole century had passed before Harry finally walked up to Dumbledore.
He felt all the professors' eyes were on him.
"Well ... go through that door, Harry," said Dumbledore quietly.
Unlike when he faced other warriors, there was no smile on his face this time.
Harry went through the door and out of the Great Hall, and found himself in a small room with pictures of wizards on both walls, and a fire burning brightly in the fireplace opposite him.
Viktor Krum, Cedric Diggory, Fleur Delacour and John Kowalski were four real warriors, and now they were all gathered around the fire, and they seemed to be getting along well.
Against the backdrop of the flames, the four figures made a particularly strong impression.
Krum leaned against the stove, hunched over, thinking about something, slightly away from the other three. Cedric stood there with his hands behind his back, staring at the fire.
Fleur Delacour turned as Harry walked in and shook her cascading silver hair.
"What's wrong?" she asked. "Do they want us to go back to the Great Hall?"
She thought Harry had come in to deliver a message - the warriors in the room had no idea what had just happened and they missed a big show.
Harry's throat moved, but he couldn't utter the words he originally wanted to say, and he didn't know how to explain what had just happened.
He just stood there, looking at the four warriors. He suddenly felt that they were all so tall... The fourth-grade student stood in front of the four adult students, and the height difference was indeed huge.
Not long after, the room was suddenly greeted by the sound of hurried footsteps. It was Ludo Bagman who entered the room.
He grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him forward.
"This is surreal!" He squeezed Harry's arm hard and whispered, "This is absolutely surreal! The three gentlemen... and this lady,"
He walked to the fireside and said to the other four people, "Allow me to introduce - although it seems incredible - this is the fifth warrior of the Final Four Tournament!"
Viktor Krum drew himself up and looked Harry up and down, a gloomy look on his imperious face, while Cedric looked bewildered, looking from Bagman to Harry, convinced that he had not heard what Bagman had said.
Fleur Delacour shook her hair, smiled, and said, "Oh, that's a very funny joke, Mr. Bagman."
"A joke?" Bagman said with an unfathomable expression, "No, no, absolutely not! Harry's name just came out of the Goblet of Fire!"
Krum's thick eyebrows frowned slightly, and John Kowalski looked at Harry in surprise, then looked away nonchalantly.
"Is this true, Harry?" Cedric walked up to Harry and asked, confusion in his eyes. "So who among us is the champion representing Hogwarts?"
"No, Mr. Diggory, that's a mistake," Fleur said haughtily to Bagman, also frowning. "He certainly can't play. He's too young."
"Yes... it is indeed surprising," Bagman rubbed his smooth chin and looked down at Harry with a smile. "But, as you know, the age limit was only implemented this year as an extra safety measure."
For some unknown reason, the sudden appearance of such a brave warrior who surprised everyone seemed to make Bagman very happy.
"Since his name has been sprayed out of the goblet... I mean, I think that since it has come to this, I can't escape from the battle... The rules are very clear, as long as you are selected, you must complete the game..."
The door behind them was pushed open again, and a large group of people rushed in aggressively.
Dumbledore, followed closely by Mr. Crouch, Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, Professor Hicks, Professor McGonagall and Snape, while Dracula leisurely followed at the end of the team.
Before Professor McGonagall closed the door, the buzz of students' discussions in the hall continued to come in, causing Harry to feel embarrassed.
"Madame Maxime!" Fleur said immediately when she saw the principal of her school, striding towards her. "They said that this little boy is also going to participate in the competition!"
little boy
Although Harry felt incredible and his brain was numb, he felt a trace of anger passing through his heart.
During his more than three years at Hogwarts, he must have experienced no fewer adventures, big and small, than Miss Fleur Delacour!
Harry cast his gaze towards Madame Maxime, wanting to see what she would say.
Madame Maxime straightened her tall and sturdy body... and then her head hit the candle-lit chandelier.
"What on earth does this mean, Dumbledore?" She lowered her head a little more, but the lowering of her head did not prevent her expression from being full of arrogance.
"I'd like to know that, too, Dumbledore," Karkaroff echoed.
He had a cold smile on his face, and his blue eyes were as cold as ice. "Hogwarts has two champions? I don't remember anyone telling me that the host school can have two champions - didn't I read the regulations carefully enough?"
He laughed briefly, and the sound was very unpleasant.
"Don't worry, both of you." Professor Hicks was the most relaxed of the four headmasters. She chuckled and waved at the two headmasters who had just spoken. "I remember Professor Dracula said before that the Goblet of Fire was cast under a Confusion Spell, which is why the accident happened."
"Indeed, someone must have planned a conspiracy against Potter." Dracula leaned against the wall next to him and said lazily to everyone present, "You should know his identity. It's not surprising that he is treated like this."
"I don't care who he is!" Karkaroff retorted loudly, "This semi-final tournament is held at Hogwarts, you must take full responsibility for this game!"
"Oh, really?" Snape's sinister voice suddenly came from a corner of the room.
Karkaroff's expression changed visibly.
…
…