#220 - Section 220
How are people supposed to view Gryffindor?
The first thing they do when encountering danger is to shout for Dumbledore to save them. Is this Gryffindor's courage?
I should have chosen Ravenclaw during the Sorting Ceremony. Whoever wants to stay in this broken Gryffindor can stay!
No House Cup, no House Cup!
And who knows how many years it's been since they won the Quidditch Cup.
Gryffindor is always involved when there's trouble and getting criticized.
If I hadn't entered Gryffindor, I wouldn't be the Head of Gryffindor. If I wasn't the Head of Gryffindor…
Similarly, the faces of the Gryffindor students weren't looking too good either. They've lost face internationally.
Regardless of what's happening outside, the competition must continue.
A large group of Romanian Dragon Sanctuary workers came to the arena through the tunnel. Except for two who went to Ron, the rest went to deal with the dragons.
Time was tight, and the task was heavy. They had to quickly take the dragons down and replace them with the next batch, and also set up the scene.
The two Dragon Sanctuary workers who came to Ron looked at him still slumped on the ground, with a patch of dampness beneath him, and curled their lips in disdain.
They had just watched the situation on the field, so they naturally knew Ron's performance.
Speaking of which, is this really Charlie's brother?
If it weren't for the identical red hair, one would think he was adopted.
Charlie passed the rigorous exam immediately after graduating and smoothly entered the Dragon Sanctuary, where he performed exceptionally well.
In the past few years, he has surpassed many of their old employees. Who would have thought his brother would be so disappointing?
Just as Ron was being carried off the field, Ludo Bagman announced loudly:
"Alright, the first match has now come to a successful conclusion. Our judging panel will now score the first group of champions."
"Let's wait and see what scores they will receive!"
"First is Hogwarts' Ron Weasley!"
Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Ludo looked at the other judges as he spoke.
As a shrewd person, he didn't want to be the first to stick his neck out.
However, the other judges all turned their gazes to Dumbledore.
Even though he was an old fox who had developed a face thicker than a city wall, Dumbledore still felt somewhat uncomfortable at this moment.
Based on Ron's performance, it was hard to give a good score!
Each judge had the right to score, with a full score of ten, meaning the highest possible score was fifty. In a normal competition, a house's score could reach a maximum of one hundred and fifty.
Five points were based on the number of golden eggs, which the judges had determined in advance. The remaining five points were for performance, which depended on each judge's criteria.
Ron certainly didn't have any points for golden eggs, as for performance points…
Dumbledore fell silent.
After a while, he raised his wand and pointed it at the sky.
A puff of smoke spewed from the tip of the wand, twisting to form a large [0].
Dumbledore still had some face. If the other judges started scoring and someone gave some friendly points, Dumbledore wouldn't mind giving two or three points.
But if he took the lead and gave two or three points, people would inevitably say he was biased towards his own house's wizard, especially since they had the advantage of being on home ground, which would inevitably lead to some gossip.
With Dumbledore taking the lead, the rest was easy.
Karkaroff followed closely behind and gave a zero.
Ludo and Crouch were not to be outdone, starting with zero points as well.
The whole scene fell silent. No one expected such a scene to unfold. Getting a zero in front of so many wizards from other countries was a major embarrassment!
Fred and George painfully lowered their heads. They were Hogwarts students and couldn't just leave early.
If a Slytherin came over and mocked them at this time, the scene would be unimaginable.
Fortunately, the Slytherins were also silent. Although Ron was a Gryffindor wizard and the two houses were quite incompatible, they were all Hogwarts students in the eyes of outsiders. Losing face was something they all shared, so they naturally didn't dare to provoke them at this moment.
If this were an internal Hogwarts competition, they would have run over long ago.
"The Hogwarts champion, Ron Weasley, receives a score of zero!"
Although it was difficult to say, Ludo had to announce it.
Outside the arena, Ron, who was heading towards the Gryffindor common room, froze upon hearing this.
Then his face turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
Zero points. He didn't expect it to be zero points.
He knew he shouldn't have cooperated…
"Next is the Beauxbatons champion, Hesper Godwin. Let's look forward to her score."
Dumbledore still took the lead in scoring, waving his wand, and a puff of smoke spewed from the tip of the wand, twisting to form a large [7].
Madam Maxime raised her wand to the sky, and a long, silvery thread-like thing spewed out from the wand, twisting to form a large [8].
Karkaroff followed closely behind, and a [8] composed of flames floated in the air.
They had already agreed to eliminate Hogwarts first.
No matter how many base points there were, they, as judges, had to give the other students full performance points.
Barty Crouch gave a six with a cold face.
Ludo followed suit, giving a six.
In Ludo's opinion, based on the situation on the field, the performance points should be around two or three, although there were some gains.
But they all took the initiative to leave the field, which didn't quite fit the theme of a champion. Giving five points would be pure, unadulterated bias.
Even Dumbledore's four points were insane.
"Let us congratulate the Beauxbatons champion, Hesper Godwin, for receiving thirty-five points."
Sparse applause rang out from the audience.
The faces of the Hogwarts wizards grew even more grim. They were already thirty-five points behind right at the start. Even if Ethan got full marks later, he wouldn't be able to catch up!
Compared to Ron, Harry wasn't doing much better.
Let's look forward to seeing how many points the Durmstrang champion, Viktor Krum, will get!
The final result was thirty points.
Just like before, everything was the same except for the fixed Golden Egg score being a little lower.
This made many of the Hogwarts wizards have opinions about Dumbledore.
Why give the other school's wizards such high scores?
Even though they didn't know the scoring criteria, they had Ludo and Barty Crouch's contrasting standards to compare with.
They weren't asking for the headmaster to give a low score, or even zero, but at least be the same as the other two Ministry of Magic officials!
After the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary staff cleaned up the competition area and brought in three new dragons,
Ludo blew his whistle to remind the next group of champions that they could come out.
"Good luck!"
Ethan gave Fleur a thumbs-up as she stood up, ready to go out.
"Don't worry!"
Fleur patted her chest, striking a confident pose.
Harry looked at Ethan in disbelief. What about me?
Having a girlfriend and forgetting about friends!
Ron's zero score had also put a lot of pressure on Harry.
The sound of the whistle could be heard coming in, and naturally, Ludo's voice using the Sonorus charm could also be heard.
The moment he learned that Ron had received a zero score, Harry felt unbelievable. What had he done in the arena?
This also made Harry quite unsure of himself.
"Follow the plan. It's hard to say how many points you'll get, but it definitely won't be zero."
As Harry was about to leave the tent, Ethan reminded him from behind.
Harry was quite skilled with the rocket crossbow, so it wouldn't be a problem to snatch the Golden Egg from Fleur's hands. As for the other Durmstrang champion, Ethan could only wish him good luck.
Hopefully, he wouldn't follow in Ron's footsteps.
"Okay!"
Thinking of the rocket crossbow, Harry gained more confidence.
This morning, he had specifically asked Neville to bring his rocket crossbow to the arena, but it hadn't actually been through the arena yet.
Harry also didn't know how far he would be from the rocket crossbow at that time, and whether he would be able to use the Summoning Charm to bring the rocket crossbow out.
Chapter 262: Karkaroff: Cheating Without Me?
Just like Ron's group, Fleur and the others didn't act rashly after coming to the arena through the tunnel.
Each of them was carefully examining the opponents they were about to face.
Three dragons: the Welsh Green, the Hungarian Horntail, and the Norwegian Ridgeback.
Among them, the Welsh Green is the most harmless under normal circumstances. Compared to other dragons, it doesn't have any outstanding features and is quite mediocre. It's completely reasonable to say that it is the least threatening dragon.
The Norwegian Ridgeback has moderate build, speed, and strength. It's just a bit more aggressive, and its teeth are venomous.
The most noteworthy is the Hungarian Horntail, which is one of the dragons that breathes fire the farthest, with a range of fifty feet, and is also the biggest danger factor in this competition.
After assessing the three dragons, the three of them were also preparing to take action.
However, slightly different from the situation in the first round, two of the three guys who came out this time were extremely ferocious, but they didn't show any aggressiveness after coming out.
You should know that in the previous round, Ron and the others had just come out and received a welcome gift from the Fireball Dragon, a mushroom-shaped fireball.
Harry, who had decided to start with the Welsh Green later, immediately turned his gaze to the stands.
He was looking for the Gryffindor seating area. Fortunately, the seats for the Hogwarts students had already been assigned, and he could see some banners over there.
And his target, Neville, was in the front row, waving a broom at him.
Seeing Neville and the rocket crossbow, Harry was relieved.
Neville hadn't failed him today, otherwise, he really wouldn't know what to do.
It's not that Harry didn't want to ask others for help, but within Gryffindor, there weren't many candidates who could lend a helping hand and who he could trust wouldn't deliberately cause trouble.
It's just, with this distance, can he really successfully use the Summoning Charm to summon the broom over?
Neville had already done his best to bring the broom close enough.
If it doesn't work, he will move to the other side later.
Having made his decision, Harry eliminated distracting thoughts and completely and absolutely concentrated his mind, thinking of his broom, which was his only hope.
The moment the image of the broom became clearer and clearer in his mind, Harry directly raised his wand.
"Firebolt, come here!"
Harry shouted loudly, as if his rocket crossbow would hear him and respond to him.
And many of the surrounding spectators also heard it. The audience, who had mostly been paying attention to Fleur, turned their attention to Harry.
This Hogwarts champion manages to bring something different to everyone every round.
Harry completely ignored the spectators outside the arena, and at this moment, he was completely immersed in his desire for the rocket crossbow.
Suddenly, Harry heard something whizzing through the air, and when he turned around, Harry saw his Firebolt flying quickly towards him around the edge of the arena.
In just a moment, it suddenly stopped in mid-air next to him.
