#403 - Chapter 403 This is the original intention of the competition

The arrival of the Hogwarts champions invigorated Fleur and the others, and a brand new rescue team was officially formed with the goal of rescuing the captives.

Naturally, the strongest trio, Harry, immediately became the leaders of the team.

"Mermaids are fish, and since they are fish, we can use fishing nets to deal with them!"

Malfoy was full of confidence. This was one of the plans he, Harry, and Cedric had discussed before, and it was perfect for this situation, especially with such a large team.

Now that the Hogwarts team had stepped up, they were going to lead everyone in a beautiful ambush.

"There's seaweed everywhere. Let's use Transfiguration to create some giant fishing nets and show the mermaids what we're made of."

Hearing Malfoy's suggestion, Fleur and the others' eyes lit up, and they nodded in agreement.

After a quick discussion, the team quickly finalized the plan.

Harry, Malfoy, and Cedric took the lead, waving their wands, and the surrounding dense seaweed quickly intertwined under the spell, turning into huge and sturdy fishing nets, steadily laid out in key positions within the ambush circle.

At the same time, Krum and the other champions weren't idle. They skillfully applied Strengthening Charms and Concealment Charms to the fishing nets, ensuring that once the mermaids were caught, they couldn't easily escape.

In less than ten minutes, the ambush circle was set up, and everything was ready.

Harry, Malfoy, and Cedric immediately cast Disillusionment Charms, hiding themselves and concealing themselves in the shadows of the ambush circle.

Meanwhile, Krum and other miniature champions took the initiative, quickly approaching the mermaids' patrol area, deliberately exposing their tracks to attract the mermaids' attention.

The mermaids took the bait. They drove the grindylows, chasing closely behind the champions.

"They're coming!" Malfoy said in a low voice, his eyes fixed on the approaching mermaids.

When the patrol team completely entered the range of the ambush circle, the three of Harry quickly launched spells, controlling the fishing nets to suddenly rise from the seaweed, trapping the pursuing patrol team.

Seeing the mermaids struggling desperately, trying to tear the fishing nets to escape, the champions didn't hold back, and various spells came out one after another, striking the mermaids, causing them to fall into a slumber.

The whole operation was smooth and flowing, without any extra flaws, and everyone performed appropriately in their roles.

"Well done, keep going!"

The miniature champions attacked again, luring two more waves of mermaid patrols into the trap.

During this period, the Ilvermorny team also arrived, and after seeing everyone ambushing the mermaids, they took the initiative to stay and help everyone with the ambush.

After the end of the third ambush, Malfoy immediately shouted: "That's enough, take the initiative, rescue the captives!"

Malfoy, Harry, and Cedric took the lead, leading Krum and other miniature champions, swimming towards the captive hut.

After several waves of ambushes, the mermaid patrol team had been almost completely captured. The remaining mermaids, seeing the menacing champions, didn't resist at all and fled in panic.

In the audience, Ludo Bagman almost jumped up. His face was flushed, his voice was high-pitched, directly drowning out the whistling of the cold wind.

"Dear audience! Did you see that? This is what true cooperation is! True courage and wisdom!"

He waved his arms sharply, pointing to the scene displayed on the magic screen, his voice becoming more and more sonorous.

"The three champions, Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, and Cedric Diggory! They are not only fighting for their own victory, but also actively helping their companions from other schools! They abandoned the simplest way of advancing alone, and instead chose a more difficult but also more glorious path!"

In the screen, the three Hogwarts champions held their wands, and after driving away the mermaids, formed a triangle to firmly protect the hut where the captives were held, to prevent the mermaids from attacking.

The other champions took the opportunity to enter the captive hut and untie the ropes on their companions.

"Look at this tactic! This tacit understanding! This is true teamwork! The three champions of Hogwarts not only demonstrated their personal strength, but also embodied what is called true leadership!"

Bagman's voice became more and more excited.

"Friends, this is the Five Champions Tournament, a competition that tests courage, wisdom, ambition, and... moral choices! The three champions of Hogwarts tell us with their actions that true victory is not just about being the first to cross the finish line, but about showing the most precious qualities of the magical world—cooperation and win-win!"

Amidst the cheers of the young wizards, Bagman surveyed the audience: "At this moment, the Hogwarts team has become the most dazzling existence in the audience! This is not only the brilliance of wisdom and courage, but also the brilliance of humanity, the future of the magical world!"

"Look, the Hogwarts champions team has arrived at the mermaid village and successfully rescued their treasures. They are now rapidly surfacing. There is no suspense about the champion of this game."

"The other champions teams have also entered the cooperative trial副本, and now the game has reached 2 hours and 8 minutes. They still have enough time to complete this game."

Looking at the scenes in the magic screen, Madam Maxime looked at Dumbledore: "Dumbledore, your champions are really good!"

The headmaster of Uagadou also said happily: "To be honest, I didn't expect this development at all. Their qualities are more precious than all the gems."

"Our Ilvermorny children are also good," Ilvermorny's headmaster Agilbert smiled, "They obviously didn't have anyone captured, but they were still willing to help."

"To be honest, at first I was a little dissatisfied and complained in my heart why they didn't take the opportunity to enter the cooperative trial. Now I can't help but reflect that my utilitarianism is too strong. The children are much better than me."

"Krum is also good," Karkaroff said, "He was the first to propose unity and cooperation."

Dumbledore stroked his beard: "This is the original intention of the Triwizard Tournament, to promote exchanges and cooperation between magical schools."

The original intention of creating the Triwizard Tournament was to promote friendly exchanges between the three major European magical schools. Whether it was Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, or Durmstrang, the headmasters at the time hoped to build a bridge of friendship through this event, giving students from the three schools the opportunity to learn from each other's strengths.

However, as time went by, this beautiful vision was gradually obscured by the desire to win.

From some point on, this competition, which was originally centered on exchange, gradually transformed into a fierce competition aimed at fame and victory.

The three schools no longer regarded the event as a celebration of friendship, but as a battlefield for comparing strength and vying for glory.

In the more than 700 years of the competition's history, there have been champions who died in accidents during the competition. These tragedies could have been avoided, but became commonplace because all parties were too focused on victory.

Not only that, in order to compete for the title of the number one magical school in Europe, the headmasters even resorted to tricks in secret to seek extra advantages for their champions.

All kinds of cheating behaviors emerged one after another, gradually becoming a default tradition.

In this harsh competition atmosphere, this event not only failed to enhance exchanges between schools, but deepened the estrangement between each other, until the exchanges were completely cut off.

Now, the excellent qualities shown by the champions in the Five Champions Tournament are extremely commendable.

"I think this kind of friendly competition should be maintained for a long time, shouldn't it?" Dumbledore turned to look at the other headmasters and asked.

"Of course, our Beauxbatons is willing to participate in the next Triwizard Tournament," Madam Maxime smiled, "The Hogwarts champions have surfaced. I think their performance deserves full marks."

"Karkaroff, what do you think?"

Seeing the other headmasters looking at him, Karkaroff gritted his teeth and reluctantly uttered a sentence from his throat.

"I think so too."