#104 - Section 104

His attire was the same as always, but he looked much more haggard.

"Not bad, I've made a little money here."

"Do you have time? Shall we go outside and chat?"

"Sure!"

Lucius had contributed a lot of Galleons to him, and he might need him later, so naturally, he couldn't refuse him outright.

As for what Dumbledore thought of him getting close to the pure-blood families, that was up to Dumbledore to imagine.

"What happened to Ron being controlled some time ago? Was it really the diary?"

The day after the incident, Dumbledore explained the situation to the school board, but of course, he didn't mention Voldemort's Horcrux.

The Gryffindor tower had such a big hole blown in it, and several students were injured, so it couldn't be covered up.

After hearing this news, Lucius panicked and hadn't been able to rest well during this time.

Ethan was a firsthand witness at the time, and he also knew that he had given the diary to Ron, so he must have seen through its secrets.

It wouldn't matter much if Ethan knew, but if Dumbledore knew, it would be really troublesome, and he didn't know if Ethan had told Dumbledore or not.

Despite his current prominence, if anything related to Voldemort's Horcrux were reported, his family would definitely be confiscated. Those pure-blood families who had been harmed by Voldemort would not miss such a good opportunity.

Ethan knew what he wanted to ask.

"When the diary controlled Ron, it revealed its identity: Voldemort's memory from his student days, Tom Marvolo Riddle. The letters rearranged spell 'I am Lord Voldemort'. Quite a few people know this."

"Dumbledore naturally knows too, and most likely thinks you orchestrated everything. Harry encountered a house-elf during the summer vacation, who repeatedly tried to prevent him from coming to Hogwarts, saying there was a conspiracy against him, which should be from your house."

"Do you think there's much chance of openly operating at Hogwarts, and not being caught by Dumbledore if you're discovered?"

After listening, Lucius fell silent.

Dobby had indeed been acting strangely lately. Sometimes he would disappear and couldn't be found, which had never happened before, and he seemed a little guilty when facing him, as if he had done something wrong.

"Mr. Malfoy, now that you know, I'll leave first. I have my match later."

"Yes, this is a gift I brought this time, a Venomous Tentacula's venom sac. I hope it will be useful to you."

Coming back to his senses, Lucius took out a glass jar from his pocket. Inside was a purple sac-like object, with some purple liquid at the bottom of the jar.

After separating, Ethan directly put away the glass jar. As expected of a major family, they were generous.

This was the essence of the Venomous Tentacula. It wasn't sold on the market, and it was difficult to find even on the black market. This thing was too dangerous and extremely difficult to deal with.

If it leaked out here, the young wizards present would probably be poisoned.

According to Ravenclaw's records, black wizards in that era used Venomous Tentacula venom mixed with the plague to create super-viruses, and some used it to refine poison, slaughtering more than twenty Muggle villages in one night.

However, it didn't seem to be of much use to Ethan, and could only be considered a good collectible.

Arriving at the contestants' tent, everyone except Ethan had arrived.

This was also specially set up today. Previously, they would only go to the arena from the audience seats when their names were called.

Soon, the first match began.

Luna faced a Slytherin boy wizard, a half-blood, who was the one Lockhart chose to cheat.

According to Ethan's observation, the equipment Lockhart lent out was generally used by four or five people in rotation, but things like Fire Shield and Vulcan's Advance were not lent out.

But even with Lockhart's alchemy equipment, only three made it to the finals: one first-year, one third-year, and one fifth-year.

Lockhart could buy alchemy tools from Ethan, and the pure-blood families wouldn't lack that either.

They could write a letter back and borrow it, which wasn't a problem at all. On the contrary, those who could cooperate with Lockhart, their own strength was imaginable.

Even if Lockhart could control who the opponent was in the match, the strength would be about the same later on.

In a few minutes, Ethan heard the news of Luna's victory.

Then came Ethan's match with Cassandra.

There weren't many people betting on this match today, mainly because of the odds. If they were a little higher, the participation would definitely be the widest.

When the match started, Ethan treated it as a test of Cassandra's Fiendfyre level.

Two identical orange-red flames rose up, but in terms of scale and speed, Cassandra was still not as good as Ethan.

Of course, Ethan also added other things this time. This was pure Fiendfyre.

Facing the Chimera, Dragon, and Phoenix illusions of fire that Cassandra attacked with, Ethan's side was just pure Fiendfyre, but under Ethan's control, the flames surged like waves, making Cassandra's attack unable to advance an inch.

Dumbledore also personally came out to stabilize the arena's defenses. He couldn't guarantee that the Fiendfyre wouldn't spread to the entire arena after a while.

The little wizards below were also stunned. Are you sure we're really going to the same school?

Many confused spectators looked at Professor Flitwick, wanting to know if he had given Ethan and Cassandra special tutoring, otherwise why hadn't we learned this?

This was obviously not a Fire Charm, but a more advanced spell.

The parents gathered together discussed the Voray family. Anyone with eyes could see that they were about to rise. With just this Fiendfyre alone, let alone Ethan's level, many of them couldn't even control it as stably as Cassandra!

As Ethan's sea of fire gradually closed in, there was no space around Cassandra. It was all occupied by Ethan's Fiendfyre. When she wanted to use Fiendfyre to impact, it was like a drop of water falling into the sea, unable to stir up any waves at all.

It wasn't until Ethan's Fiendfyre was less than two meters away from Cassandra that he cancelled it.

Cassandra also conceded defeat.

In the third-year match, Cho Chang chose to use a necklace with an Iron Skin Charm, after all, the opponent used these first.

And the victory, without a doubt, was taken by Cho Chang.

After all, Cho Chang was stronger in terms of hard power. It was just that she couldn't break the opponent's Iron Skin Charm in a short time. If it was a consumption battle, Cho Chang would undoubtedly be more advantageous.

In the fourth year, Cedric won the victory, tricking the Slytherin wizard with Transfiguration. No one thought that the always honest Hufflepuff would also play some tricks.

In the fifth year, the one Lockhart and them chose won the victory. This person was from Gryffindor.

The sixth year was Penelope, who won with an overwhelming advantage. Her talent was already good, but she didn't have the family background, which led to her original strength being so-so.

Now, with Ethan's supplementation, coupled with her own penchant for hard work, her strength has surpassed many of her peers.

Originally, Percy might have been Penelope's opponent in this competition, but due to the severe injuries he sustained that day, he didn't return to school until he had recovered for more than a week. Although all his other injuries from the explosion had been healed, leaving behind many scars, three fingers on his right hand were missing, having been completely shattered by the blast and impossible to restore. This led him to give up on the competition himself.

After all, he couldn't even hold his wand steady, and his spellcasting was severely affected. He would have to practice casting with his left hand from now on, or else he would be stuck like this for the rest of his life.

The seventh-year champion was a male Slytherin student and Head Boy.

With this, all the competitions for the seven grades came to an end.

Ravenclaw became the biggest winner, taking home the championship for four grades, which meant an additional four hundred points.

The other three houses each received an additional one hundred points.

[Thank you to the generous patron who gifted 1000 VIP points, thank you!]

Chapter 136: A Mole Planted in the Ministry of Magic

Evening, the Three Broomsticks Pub!

Lockhart and Ludo clinked their glasses together.

Although the result was quite different from what he had envisioned, with only three people making it to the finals, and only one remaining to win.

But there were three upsets today, in the third, fourth, and fifth-year matches.

Cedric and Lambert Krauss were both recognized as geniuses in the fourth year, but most people believed that Lambert Krauss would win, after all, no one knew what dark magic this Slytherin was hiding.

So, most of the bets placed on the fourth year were on Lambert Krauss.

But the result was that Lambert Krauss did hide a trump card but didn't use it, and was tricked by Cedric using Transfiguration.

Specifically, when the opponent used the Fire-Making Spell, Cedric transformed a stone into a dummy that looked exactly like himself, while his real body used the more difficult and risky human transfiguration to become a groundhog and quickly burrowed into the ground.

When Lambert Krauss cast a Disarming Charm, knocking the dummy Cedric away and causing the wand to fall to the side, he was caught off guard, and Cedric suddenly appeared and ambushed him with a Petrification Charm~.

It was this match that brought a large income to both of them.

"If there's anything like this in the future, come find me again!"

Ludo patted the pocket at his waist with satisfaction, which contained a full twenty thousand Galleons.

In all his years of running betting games, he had never won so much money.

"We'll cooperate again if there's a chance in the future!"

Lockhart raised his glass and clinked it with Ludo's.

Of course, this was just a polite remark. Lockhart was already preparing to run away, to leave Hogwarts. He didn't have the ability to organize a big competition outside.

It was close to eleven o'clock in the evening when the two left the pub, seeing off by Madam Rosmerta, the landlady.

"Mr. Bagman and Professor Lockhart, it's so late, where are you planning to go?"

The two had just walked onto the small path outside the village when they saw Ethan walking out of the shadows.

Being startled like this, they both sobered up a bit.

"Adrian, Ludo and I came for a drink to celebrate the successful conclusion of today's dueling competition."

Lockhart stepped forward and flashed his signature smile, hoping to muddle through.

"But the information I received is not like this. The two of you teamed up to manipulate the competition, and now you should be here to split the Galleons!"

Ethan looked at the two with a playful expression.

Originally, he only planned to knock them out and rob them of their money, but halfway through, Ethan felt that since he was already here, he might as well squeeze out their value.

Although Ludo Bagman's Magical Games and Sports Department wasn't large in scale and didn't have much power, he was still the head of the department, and could be considered an upper-level figure.

Relying on the popularity he gained from playing Quidditch, his appeal was still quite good.

Although Lockhart wasn't strong, he had a thick skin and could fool people. He was still very popular outside, whether it was middle-aged and elderly women or young girls, many people liked this type.

Coming to Hogwarts as a teacher was a complete waste of talent. The toad Umbridge could even lick her way to a high position, so why couldn't Lockhart?

Joining the Ministry of Magic was the right solution. Many positions there didn't require strength.

And in all aspects except strength, Lockhart could completely surpass Umbridge. Maybe if he licked the right person, he could rise to the top in one step.

Ethan didn't have anyone in the Ministry of Magic yet. Amos Diggory was Cassandra's father, and Ethan couldn't command him.

Lockhart and Ludo could just be used as moles to infiltrate the Ministry of Magic for Ethan, to pave the way for him to become the Minister in the future.

"As a professor and the Head of the Magical Games and Sports Department, how could Ludo and I do such a thing?"

Lockhart absolutely couldn't admit this. Opening a betting pool was no problem, but rigging the game, if those pure-bloods who lost money found out, he wouldn't have a place to stay in Great Britain.

Lockhart just wanted to stay far away from Hogwarts, not far away from Great Britain. His books hadn't sold well overseas, and there was no fan base there, making it difficult to make a living.

Ludo was the same, but he was already a little flustered and not as calm as Lockhart.

"Mr. Bagman said last time that he wanted to take me to fix matches to make money, did he just say it, or did he find someone else?"

"Like Niddas Anker, Horace Yaxley, Garcia Railph, do I need to say more about the ones after?"

Ethan directly named three names, who were the first, second, and third-year contestants selected by the two.

"How do you know?"

Lockhart didn't plan to pretend anymore. His entire background had been exposed, how could he continue to pretend?

Then he glared fiercely at Ludo. He had said not to go find Ethan, but he didn't listen, and now he had been caught and come knocking on their door?

"Alright, don't worry about how I know. You just need to know that I have the ability to let all the pure-bloods who came to Hogwarts today know about this at any time."

"If you two agree, then come with me!"

Unlike Voldemort, he would never really agree to be your little brother, even if Ethan had a Voldemort cub.

Speaking nicely, or any kind of transaction or threat, wouldn't be of much use.

You can only make him fear you, hate you, and at the same time not dare to disobey you, that's the right way to do it.

Anyway, Ethan was just treating him as a very capable tool, and if he wasn't convenient one day, he would just destroy him.

But Ludo and Lockhart didn't have the arrogance of Little Tom. With their weaknesses in Ethan's hands, plus the threat of force, that was enough.

Suddenly, Ludo abruptly drew his wand.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

The grey-white curse was flung out by Ludo, and in the blink of an eye, it arrived before Ethan.