"Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes, I will invite you to the Quidditch field to watch the final event of the Triwizard Tournament..."
When the enchanted ceiling was dotted with stars, Dumbledore stood up in front of the faculty seats and everyone fell silent.
The dinner was more sumptuous than usual, but the warriors didn't eat much as they were all feeling very nervous.
"… Now, warriors, please follow Mr. Bagman to the playground."
Dumbledore clapped his hands, signaling the warriors present to follow Bagman, who was standing at the entrance of the Great Hall.
Harry stood up and the Gryffindor students looked at him and applauded him.
The Weasleys and Sirius also sat at the Gryffindor table - they were all former Gryffindor students, and they were wishing him good luck together.
At the same time, there was a warm applause from the seats of Beauxbatons, Invermorny and Durmstrang at the long table of Hufflepuff House.
Harry, Cedric, Fleur, Viktor and John gathered together and walked out of the hall together to the applause.
"Feeling all right, Harry?" Bagman asked as they descended the steps. "Feeling confident?"
"That's fine," said Harry.
He was telling the truth. Although he was indeed very nervous, he kept reviewing the spells he had learned during this period in his mind. Those complex spells were so vivid that it seemed as if he could blurt them out by waving his wand.
This confident state made him feel much better.
The warriors walked all the way to the original location of the Quidditch pitch - it had become completely unrecognizable, and even Harry and Cedric, who had trained here for a long time, couldn't believe that this had once been a pitch.
A twenty-foot-high hedge enclosed the edge of the grounds, leaving only a gap in front of them, which was probably the entrance to this huge maze.
The passages inside the maze are pitch black, and you can't see anything when standing outside, which seems a bit scary.
"Hey, has the security professor arrived?" Furong's eyes swept across the entrance of the maze and found a silver-haired figure standing high up in the hedge surrounding the maze.
A bright crescent moon hangs behind Dracula.
Tonight is a waning moon, and the crescent lies on its side to the lower right, as if it is resting behind Dracula's head, turning into a crystal pillow in a flattering manner.
"I remember when we left the auditorium, wasn't he still eating in the staff seat?" John asked curiously, "How come he got there before us?"
"It's Professor Dracula's routine operation. You'll get used to it." Cedric said with a chuckle.
Five minutes later, people started to enter the stands.
Hundreds of students filed into their seats, and the air was filled with excited voices and the sound of footsteps.
Lights lit up around the maze, blending in with the stars in the sky to illuminate the area.
Hagrid, Professor McGonagall, and Professor Flitwick walked into the playing field and approached Bagman and the Warriors.
They all had big glowing red stars on their hats, except Hagrid, who had a star on the back of his terry vest - the professors had been unable to find a hat that would fit him.
"In addition to Professor Dracula, we will also patrol outside the maze," Professor McGonagall said to the warriors, "If you encounter difficulties and want to be rescued, you must shoot red sparks into the sky in time, and we will have someone to help you. Do you understand?"
The warriors nodded in unison.
"Also, if you encounter an extremely urgent danger and don't have time to cast the red spark, remember to shout loudly," Professor McGonagall reminded, "Professor Dracula can usually hear your shouts."
She looked specifically at the two Hogwarts students, Harry and Cedric, and took a deep breath.
"Good luck in the competition!"
After Bagman finished giving Professor McGonagall's instructions, he walked up to the three temporary patrol members.
"Thank you very much, three professors!" he said to them happily.
"Good luck, Harry." Hagrid whispered a blessing to Harry before turning and leaving.
The three professors walked off in different directions, spreading out around the maze.
Then Bagman pointed his wand at his throat and said "loud voice", and his magically amplified voice echoed throughout the stands.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the final event of the semi-finals is about to begin!" he said excitedly.
"Now, let me report the scores of the five warriors in the first two events - John Kowalski, a total of 105 points, currently ranked first is Yin Fa Mo Ni School of Magic!"
Applause broke out, but the Hogwarts students who occupied the majority of the audience were not overly enthusiastic, so the applause was not too loud.
"Next are the second and third place, Cedric Diggory and Harry Potter - they scored 102 and 98 points respectively. The two warriors of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry happened to be ranked together. Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry ranked second!"
It was not until then that extremely warm applause and cheers rang out in the arena, scaring the birds in the forbidden forest away into the completely dark night sky.
Although Hogwarts did not get first place in the score, two warriors from their school ranked second and third respectively, which proves that the warriors of Hogwarts still have a great chance of winning the final championship!
The young wizards all looked at Harry and Cedric expectantly, waving the red and yellow flags representing Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, with the names of the two warriors written on them.
"Next is Mr. Victor Krum, with 91 points, and Durmstrang Academy is ranked third!" Bagman continued.
Another round of applause rang out—Krum's fame still had a strong influence in the eyes of the young wizards.
"Finally, Miss Fleur Delacour, 77 points, Beauxbatons Academy is currently ranked fourth!"
Furong made a major mistake in the second event and failed to rescue her sister, so the score gap was widened by other warriors.
At this point, except for some young wizards who were attracted by Furong's beauty, most of the audience applauded politely.
Harry was standing not far from the entrance to the maze, looking out into the audience. He could make out Mrs. Weasley, Sirius, Bill, Ron and Hermione were all in the stands, applauding Fleur politely.
He waved at them from a distance, and Sirius and the others also waved back at him with a smile.
"Now let me introduce the rules of the competition - the scores of the first two items will determine the order in which the warriors enter the maze. The warrior with the highest score will be the first to enter the maze, and the warriors behind will be delayed by five minutes each..."
"Now, Mr. Kowalski, listen to my whistle!" Bagman said, his face beaming as he took the commentary booth. "Three... two... one..."
"Dudu—"
With a short whistle, John quickly ran through the entrance and into the maze.
The tall hedges cast dark shadows on the path. Perhaps it was because the hedges were so high and dense, or because of the silencing magic cast around the maze, but as soon as John entered the maze, the voices of the audience disappeared.
John was not too nervous, because there were many dangerous magical animals in this maze, which happened to be his strong point.
After studying for quite some time with Newt Scamander, the most outstanding magical zoologist of this century, his grandmother's brother-in-law and grandfather's good friend, John found that most magical animals were not only not obstacles to him, but could even be used as a help.
He turned confidently down a side road to see what kind of fantastic animals the big gamekeeper and forester could find.
However, when he appeared behind the corner, what blocked his way was not some magical animal or some magic mechanism, but a ferocious-looking bald old man.
"You are... Mr. Filch, the caretaker of Hogwarts?" John frowned and asked, "You shouldn't be here. It's very dangerous..."
John stopped talking suddenly.
He saw that the Squib Filch in front of him actually took out a wand from his pocket, played with it in his hand very skillfully for a few times, and then pointed it at John.
John suddenly felt something was wrong and subconsciously rolled to one side...
A beam of white light flew past his shoulder and instantly turned the hedge behind John into a stone wall.
"You react pretty quickly. You deserve to be the first place in the semi-finals." Filch sneered.
John broke out in a cold sweat.
He never thought that such a seemingly harmless Squib could cast such a powerful spell.
"Who are you?!" he demanded.
"You don't need to know." Filch said coldly, "Leaving an uncontrollable person like you on the field, how can that stupid boy get the Goblet of Fire..."
As he spoke, he cast another powerful spell.
John quickly used an Shield Charm to block in front of him, but the Shield Charm was unable to stop Filch's spell. The transparent barrier hit John's chest heavily, knocking him flying and crashing into another hedge behind him.
Seeing that Filch was about to cast a spell again, John realized that he was no match for this "gatekeeper", so he quickly raised his wand and pointed it at the sky.
"Ruddy Sparkle!"
A dazzling red light shot out from the tip of John's wand and shot straight into the sky.
However, just before the spark was about to burst through the tall fence, another spell arrived and intercepted it in the nick of time.
It's Filch's universal spell to break the spell!
John's heart sank.
Suddenly, he thought of what Professor McGonagall of Hogwarts had told them before the game started -
"If you are in a very urgent danger and don't have time to cast the red spark, remember to shout loudly. Professor Dracula can usually hear your shouts."
John's eyes lit up, and he no longer cared whether the silencing spells around him would block his shouting. Holding on to a one in ten thousand hope, he began to shout loudly to the sky.
"Professor Dracula, help me!"
However, "Filch" did not react to his actions. Instead, he walked forward leisurely with an evil smile on his face.
"Don't worry, Professor Dracula, whom you rely on, has been lured away..." He said with a sinister smile, "Now no one can hear your cry for help."
Then, "Filch" raised his wand -
"Imperio."
…
Five minutes ago, just as John entered the maze and started the game.
Dracula stood high on the fence, looking into the depths of the maze with interest.
At this moment, his eyes moved slightly.
Dracula took out an exquisite crystal ball emitting a soft glow from his pocket.
This crystal ball has not been used for several years. It is a pair connected to the crystal ball that Wes came to send to Romania three years ago.
In the center of the crystal ball of Mo Lake, there should be a dim moon rotating quietly.
However, at this moment, the dark moon became extremely bright, shining brightly.
This means that Selina has a message for him.
Dracula frowned, glanced at the glowing crystal ball, and then looked deeper into the maze.
With Professor McGonagall and the others patrolling, nothing should go wrong in this match in the short term, right
He thought so and then disappeared on the spot.
The next moment, Dracula appeared on a small island outside Hogwarts, where his adopted daughter Selena, whose hair was half black and half white, was waiting for him.
"What's wrong? Is there something urgent that brought you here?" Dracula frowned and asked, "If it's nothing urgent, I'll go back first. I have something else to do over there."
"No, this matter is very urgent!" Selina walked quickly to Dracula with an extremely anxious look on her face. "It's from the Greek magic world. Minister Abbott said that something happened on Mount Olympus!"
"What?" Dracula frowned tightly, "Why at this time?"
"I don't know." Selina shook her head. "You are the only one who can enter that secret place. I couldn't find a solution with a few high-level vampires, so I had to come and contact you."
She looked at Dracula with some concern and asked, "Is there a problem with Uncle Andros again? Previously, the despicable Herpo's power suddenly increased, causing the unusual movement of Mount Olympus."
"But I have been very restrained recently and have not gone to kill Dementors." Dracula was a little confused, but he shrugged and said, "Forget it, I still have to go and take a look, in case there are any major problems with Andros."
Then, he looked at Serena and said, "I should be working as a security guard at the Final Four Tournament. Now that I have to leave Hogwarts and go to Mount Olympus to check out the situation, someone needs to take my place."
"How about this, Serena, you help me watch over the game, I'll try to come back as soon as possible."
"Me?" Selina asked incredulously.
"That's right. It's too late to find someone else in such a short time." Dracula nodded and raised his hand to conjure up two dark moons. "Go ahead. This leads to the Quidditch field at Hogwarts."
As he spoke, he pushed Selina into one of the dark moons without saying a word, then he stepped into the other and came to the top of Mount Olympus where the incident happened.
…
…