Chapter 452 Krum was the first to retire

Bagman stepped aside and gave the space to Dumbledore. Before the four warriors officially enter the maze, he must first read out a series of precautions.

There was an indescribable melancholy in Dumbledore's eyes. He first solemnly announced the scores and current rankings of the four warriors.

There is no doubt that Fleur from Beauxbatons ranks first with her outstanding performance. As her name was read, Madame Maxime and the girls burst into cheers and applause.

Their warriors will be the first to set foot in the maze behind them. Krum, Harry and Cedric followed, and every time Dumbledore pronounced a name, applause erupted in appreciation from the stands.

"Children." Dumbledore motioned for the four people to gather around him, his voice low and serious: "In the depths of the maze, you will not encounter dragons or water monsters, but what awaits you is a more difficult challenge. In those In the twists and turns of the passage, unpredictable changes may occur in people's hearts.

Your task is to find the Goblet of Fire as quickly as possible, and at the same time, be careful not to lose yourself in the maze. "

Fu Rong's heart sank suddenly. Why was this important information not disclosed at all a month ago? She glanced secretly at the other three warriors, and couldn't help but recall the night of the second game, when Rogge mysteriously told her: "More than one person is playing a game in there."

These words kept echoing in her mind, and she looked at the maze in front of her, as if she were seeing a devouring devil's cave.

"Now, let me count to three." Dumbledore stared at Filch with blazing eyes, hoping that the last cannon to start the challenge would sound on time.

His voice counted clearly: "1..."

boom!

A sudden blast of cannon interrupted Dumbledore's count. Filch shrugged helplessly, his expression seeming to justify that he didn't mean to do it.

Dumbledore shook his head slightly helplessly, and then signaled Fleur to start entering the maze.

The towering hedges cast deep shadows, completely blocking out the hustle and bustle of the outside world. Fleur raised her head and could only see a narrow gap revealing the sky.

She did not rush to the center of the maze, but stopped and observed the surroundings, as if waiting for others to arrive. Immediately afterwards, Krum's figure flashed into the maze. He didn't pause much, quickly caught up with Furong at the fork in the road, and then turned to the passage on the right without hesitation.

"Fleur?" Harry's voice sounded in the quiet maze, the tip of his wand flashed with soft fluorescence, and his eyes were full of curiosity, "Why did you stop here?"

Before he finished speaking, Cedric also rushed into the maze. He stared at Harry with cold eyes, and made an unsettling gritting sound from his mouth. The effect of the Labyrinth on Cedric was clearly more severe than that of the other challengers.

After only 50 meters, Cedric seemed to have lost his mind. Like a hungry wolf, he stared at Harry with bloodthirsty eyes for a long time, and then disappeared from the passage on the right without saying a word.

Furong took a few deep breaths with lingering fear to calm down her nervous mood. She said to Harry: "The effects of the maze are beginning to show, Mr. Potter. Do you want to take the left passage too?"

"Me?" Harry was stunned for a moment and glanced at the passage on the left. After a brief thought, he nodded firmly: "On the left."

"Please." Fleur smiled and moved out of the way.

Harry looked at her with doubtful eyes and asked, "Why are you not in a hurry?"

"Safety first." Fleur responded softly, deliberately keeping her distance from Harry Potter. "After all, death is allowed in the Triwizard Tournament."

"Mr. Potter, if you don't speed up, you will lose the Goblet of Fire." She added with a smile.

Harry couldn't understand the strange thoughts of this witch. He gritted his teeth and quickly rushed into the depths of the maze.

The maze grew dimmer with each passing minute. The sky above the head gradually turned into a deep dark color, coupled with a thin layer of mist, making people feel like they were in a primeval forest.

Although there are no threats from dragons and banshees here, the design of the maze is enough to make people disoriented. The area of ​​the entire maze far exceeds the capacity of a Quidditch pitch, and magic once again demonstrates its magic and illogicality.

Malfoy leaned back lazily in his chair and yawned widely. "Ha, another boring game," he complained.

The last game was held in the Black Lake. Although everyone could not see the underwater situation, at least there was the voice of the commentator to kill time. Now, the audience can only stare at the maze with nothing to do.

Suddenly, Krum's screams came from the maze, and Principal Karkaroff of Durmstrang stood up immediately.

He looked solemnly into the depths of the maze, wondering secretly in his heart: "That shouldn't be the case. Logically speaking, he should be the one who used the Cruciatus Curse on others!"

Harry heard his friend's scream and immediately rushed in the direction of the sound. At this time, Cedric was hesitating whether he should continue to torture him. If it hadn't been for the vibrating reminder from the rosary, he would have almost been attacked by this guy.

"Fall out!" Harry's voice blurted out faster than he could decide.

Cedric quickly dodged, with a ferocious smile on his lips, and said secretly: "Harry Potter, I've been waiting for you for a long time!"

At this moment, the hedge next to him suddenly stretched out countless roots, wrapped Klum tightly, and then quickly pulled him towards an unknown space.

Cedric looked around the passages on both sides, but surprisingly did not find Harry. However, the red light and sound just now could not be hallucinations. Cautiously he probed forward and found a charred hole in the hedge.

boom!

A beam of red sparks shot straight into the sky from where Krum had just fallen. Cedric looked over hastily and saw Harry's head and arms emerging from the other side of the hedge, as messy as a dog hole.

"Cut out the bones!" He quickly raised his wrist, and a green light shot towards Harry's head.

Harry tried his best to kick away the dense thorns and branches, and successfully retreated to the other side of the hedge one second before being hit by the green light. The two men faced off across the hedge, neither able to pinpoint the other's exact location.

"Fire!" Cedric shouted, and the hedges in front of him were ignited one by one, and the flames spread quickly.

Fleur looked at the thick smoke rising in the distance and cautiously retreated to the edge of the maze. Although the maze is free of dragons and banshees, boggarts, Cornish pixies, and a variety of other nasty creatures lurk within.

"Albus, there's a fire in the maze!" Fudge shouted hurriedly, with a hint of panic in his eyes.

Voldemort ordered him to bring Harry to him. If he messed up this matter, there would be endless torture waiting for him.

Dumbledore shook his head slowly and used his eyes to signal Fudge to stay calm: "If they need help, they will shoot red sparks."

The audience in the stands began to become uneasy, and all kinds of comments came and went.

"Oh, my God, are they in danger?" A worried voice sounded in the crowd, "The screams just now made my hair stand on end."

"Yes, I heard that the Triwizard Tournament was suspended because of too many casualties. This maze seems to be very complicated. Can they find a way out?"

Hermione pointed at the thick smoke rising in the distance and asked nervously: "Are they going to be okay?"

"It will definitely be fine. I believe Principal Dumbledore and other professors will be prepared." Rogge used a confident tone, trying to appease everyone's concerns, "The principal will not let the maze cause casualties."

Even though his voice was so firm, it couldn't dispel everyone's worries. Of course, some people remain optimistic and confident, believing that their Warriors can overcome difficulties and complete the game safely.

At this moment, thick clouds suddenly gathered in the sky above the maze. Even though it wasn't raining, the hedge suddenly became soggy. The thick water vapor suppressed the fire that Cedric had lit. In the maze at this moment, the flames became smaller, but the smoke became thicker.

Seeing this scene, some of the audience breathed a sigh of relief, while others still clenched their fists nervously. They paid close attention to the movements in the maze and looked forward to the safe return of the warriors.

Draco stood up and leaned forward, his eyes revealing a complicated mood, as if he was worried about whether Harry could survive the fire.

In any case, this sudden turn of events provided a topic for discussion among bored viewers. Everyone looked at the thick black smoke, nervous and worried.

In the flickering of the flames, Cedric caught a glimpse of Harry's running figure. He tried several times to use the Cruciatus Curse, but Harry dodged it with amazing agility.

"Damn, you run so fast!" Cedric temporarily put away his wand and decided to take advantage of his long legs, quickly closing the distance between him and Harry.

Harry was running in the next passage, and Cedric was chasing him on the other side. He ran, he chased, and Harry had no wings to fly for the time being.

However, when Harry came to a junction where he could turn left, all Cedric was left with was an airtight hedge. The flames had gradually extinguished in the mist. Since there was no magic spell that could break through the hedge, Cedric had no choice but to go back the same way and try to intercept Harry from other paths.

Cedric followed his instincts, clutching at the spell of revenge. The steps are getting faster and faster, more and more crazy. As long as the goal is the Champions Cup in the center of the maze, Harry will never escape his grasp.

On the other side, Professor McGonagall rescued Krum from the unconscious state. Karkaroff and Fudge looked at each other, with gloomy expressions on their faces.

Although everyone is curious about what happened inside and why Krum made such a miserable cry. However, Karkaroff took his students and left the field without saying a word.

In the eyes of others, Karkaroff left the meeting in anger at Durmstrang's failure. But in Rogge's eyes, he seemed to be running away.

"What a surprise, Krum actually retired from the competition." Daphne exclaimed, her voice full of surprise, "Isn't he a professional player? I thought..."

"This is Hogwarts." Rogge smiled and said in a joking tone, "The most important thing here is surprise."

At the same time, Harry felt an intense nausea after a quick run. He held on to the hedge and gasped for air. However, the thick mist made him feel as if he was under water, making it difficult to breathe.

After carefully looking around to make sure there was no one else, Harry quickly cast the Head Bubble Charm and put a transparent air hood on his head. Then he took the wand in his hand and whispered to it: "Show me the way!"

The wand turned slightly and pointed to a path to the right. Harry ran carefully along the road, and in front of him, he saw a bright light.

His heart beat faster because he knew what that bright light meant.

The Goblet of Fire was a hundred meters away, placed on a richly decorated base, shining with an alluring blue light. That is the light of victory, the ultimate goal of all warriors participating in the Triwizard Tournament.

The surroundings were quiet, as if Cedric had been completely lost in the twisting passages of the maze. Harry did not rush forward recklessly. After many lessons from Roger, he at least learned to be cautious. He put on his invisibility cloak and tried to touch it quietly.

However, he didn't notice the danger hidden in the vines on the ground, and stepped directly on them.

These mindless magical plants have no visual perception and only act on instinct. They suddenly jump up and try to wrap themselves around anything that touches them.

In just one second, Harry's invisibility cloak was torn off by the vines, and his entire body was exposed to the air. The countless vines under his feet were like countless venomous snakes, rushing towards him like crazy.

Harry didn't care about anything else and ran away from the attacks of these plants in a panic. What made him feel fortunate was that, at least at this time, there was no sudden curse attacking him. There is no one else around, he is really the first warrior to reach the destination!

After he rushed through the passage, everything around him suddenly became extremely quiet. The Goblet of Fire was just three feet away, firmly fixed there and unable to be summoned by the Flying Charm.

Harry stared at it and walked slowly over. He stretched out his right hand and tried to grasp it.

At this moment, a magic spell flew out from the corner without warning. Harry didn't hear any sound of the curse being recited. He saw a bright light in the corner of his eye and was hit immediately.

In his blur of consciousness, he saw Cedric walking towards him with a grin. The opponent pulled out a sharp dagger from his boot, as if he wanted to kill him completely.

Just as Cedric was laughing triumphantly, he was about to trample Harry under his feet. Fleur arrived belatedly, pointed her wand at the dangerous person, and shouted softly: "Expelliarmus!"

In fact, she didn't know why, but she had been taking long detours and finally reached the center of the maze. At this moment, she finally understood what Rogge said. This game was indeed full of problems.

At this moment, Cedric was fantasizing about revenge scenes, his attention was focused on Harry, and he completely ignored the reminder of the rosary bracelet. Fleur's spell hit the opponent accurately, and the wand and knife in Cedric's hand were thrown far away and penetrated deeply into the hedge.

Cedric stared at Fleur in the distance, but Fleur paid no attention to the hatred in his eyes.

"Resume quickly!" She then cast the spell, and Harry's body immediately came back to life from his deep sleep.

After he regained consciousness, he hurriedly grabbed his wand and aimed it at the defenseless Cedric warily.

"I'm sorry, you two." Fleur smiled elegantly, without any hint of being an opponent in her tone, "Although it is not in line with wizard etiquette to intervene in your magic duel. But this is just a game called the Triwizard Tournament. .

Mr. Diggory, have you gone a little too far in trying to murder a schoolmate? "

"Why do you say I want to kill him?" Cedric was still extremely confident even though his hands were empty. He surreptitiously fingered the rosary beads on his wrist, apparently not worried about his safety.

He turned to stare at Harry, with clear hatred in his eyes: "I'm going to torture him and let him taste the pain of having his bones cut out. Then I'll use a knife to make some marks on his face..."

Fleur opened her mouth slightly and looked at Harry with shocked eyes. She stayed at Hogwarts for almost a school year and often heard Harry's legends. Even Rogge, who didn't like Harry, would praise him from time to time: "A good person."

Although it was full of teasing, she also understood that Harry's character was trustworthy. However, Cedric accused Harry of using the Cruciatus Curse to torture him, much to Fleur's disbelief.

Fleur looked at his face filled with grief and anger, and for a moment she didn't know whether she should believe his accusation. Could it be that Harry's kindness is just his disguise? Is he actually a villain who uses the Unforgivable Curse?

"I didn't!" Harry retorted loudly, struggling to get up from the ground, his voice full of determination, "Cedric, I have never used any curses on you."

"No?" Cedric laughed loudly, clenching his fists and beating his chest heavily. His eyes were full of pain, "Then tell me, why did Qiu leave me?"

"Do you know how much her leaving hurts me? That kind of pain cannot be offset by ten thousand heart-cutting attempts!" Cedric was so emotional that his voice was almost roaring.

Harry was speechless for a moment and didn't know how to respond. He couldn't help but put down his wand and muttered an explanation: "It was obviously you who broke up with her..."

"Really? Then what happened in the second game between your godfather and you? Have you forgotten what you did?" Cedric asked unwillingly, his eyes fixed on Harry.

Fleur didn't expect to be able to eat melon, so she asked curiously: "In other words, Harry Potter stole your girlfriend?" Her question made the atmosphere even more tense.

Harry responded with silence, feeling extremely aggrieved in his heart. It was obviously Sirius who made the decision on his own, why should he have to bear the consequences?

Although his feelings for Qiu Zhang were sincere, he also knew that he should not use such means to break them up. Deep in Harry's heart, he felt unspeakable guilt for Cedric.

After the last game, Harry wrote to Sirius specifically to accuse him of his behavior. However, Sirius told him: "If you really like her, you should dare to commit crimes for her. Being submissive and standing still are the tricks of a coward."

"A true warrior dares to defeat all enemies and hold the witch he likes in his arms..." Sirius even quoted James' story back then. Together, they made someone embarrassed in front of Lily, and then let James win her Heart.

If Harry denies his actions, he denies the love between his parents. As long as the result is noble, no one will remember the means you used.

Harry's silence seemed to Cedric to be acquiescing to the accusation, which made Cedric even more emotional.

"Sorry, Mr. Diggory. I didn't expect your story to be so sad..." Fleur sighed and took two steps back: "But we are wizards and we should use magic to duel."

"Besides, Mr. Potter, it is indeed too honorable to steal someone else's girlfriend."

Cedric praised sincerely: "You are really different. He never cares whether the wizard uses a wand or a fist."

"Are you talking about Rogge?" A sweet smile appeared on Fleur's lips, "I like his uniqueness."

Harry scratched his hair subconsciously, wondering why the witch liked that arrogant guy. He pointed to the Champions Cup not far away and asked Fleur: "It should be yours."

"You saved me and defeated Cedric..."

The two of them looked at her in unison. If she came over to take the Goblet of Fire now, they would not stop her. However, the strange French witch retreated.

"No, gentlemen." Fleur deeply remembered Rogge's warning. She showed a sweet smile and declined politely: "Cedric should be the first to come. If..." She glanced at Harry and did not continue. Finish talking.