#235 - Section 235

Chapter 275: The End of the Second Task

Gradually, three more champions returned from the depths of the lake. They had also successfully rescued their targets, but they looked to be in poor condition and had exceeded the time limit.

The remaining few champions were brought out by the merpeople. These merpeople, as they surfaced, looked around warily, raising their spears as if on guard. Among them was a female merperson who was larger than the average merperson.

However, the fact that these merpeople dared to come out in this state impressed Ethan.

At the same time, Madam Pomfrey hurriedly came down from the stands, carrying some potions in her hands, followed by many blankets.

Arriving at the champions' side, Madam Pomfrey had the blankets distributed and began to check on the condition of each champion.

Many of them were forcibly given a bottle of potion by Madam Pomfrey, with only Ethan and the three champions from Beauxbatons spared.

This was a potion specifically for treating colds, and it also had a preventative effect. Every year in October and November, the demand for this potion was quite high.

It was also brewed by Snape himself, so the taste was imaginable.

Ethan didn't need it at all. After transforming into his Animagus form, his resistance was extremely high, not only in terms of physical and magical aspects but also in terms of temperature. The lake water simply couldn't affect Ethan.

As for the three from Beauxbatons, they had all drunk potions before entering the water and were not afraid of the cold lake water.

The champions who drank the potion had pained expressions on their faces, and white hot air came out of their ears.

While the champions rested and received treatment, the judges walked towards the merpeople.

Although this was a magical world, specialization was quite severe. At least, there wasn't a spell that could clearly observe the movements at the bottom of the Black Lake from the stands.

This led them to be just like the audience, only knowing the time each contestant came ashore, and being completely unaware of the specific performance below. This made it difficult for them to score.

Therefore, Dumbledore had long agreed with the merpeople that after the task, they would come and tell him about the performance of the champions.

Then, based on these performances, they would give scores.

Originally, Dumbledore was supposed to go and ask the merpeople alone, but at Karkaroff's strong request, all the judges went together.

However, Karkaroff and Madam Maxime were silent as they watched Dumbledore chattering away with the merperson queen.

What kind of gibberish was that?

Normally, many humanoid magical creatures could speak human languages, but this wasn't an innate skill but learned later in life.

Apart from races like goblins and house-elves, who had frequent contact with wizards, human languages were also quite common among Veela, centaurs, leprechauns, and merpeople.

But they never expected that the merpeople in Hogwarts' Black Lake were a bunch of hicks who didn't know human languages at all.

And Dumbledore, the old geezer, actually knew the merperson language. Where could they go to reason?

Wouldn't he be able to say whatever he wanted later?

Could this also be part of Dumbledore's plan? For a moment, Karkaroff and Madam Maxime thought a lot.

They felt that ever since they entered Hogwarts, everything had been progressing in a direction favorable to Hogwarts. Maybe that red-haired kid was deliberately thrown out by Dumbledore to confuse them.

As for Dumbledore, he didn't talk to the merperson queen about the champions' performance at all, but listened to the merperson queen describe the black dragon that Ethan had transformed into.

At this moment, Dumbledore was a little glad that Ethan still had some sense and didn't attack these merpeople. Otherwise, even if he came, he wouldn't be able to stop it. By then, even if some of these merpeople could survive, they would have to move collectively.

"Queen Murcus, I can guarantee that the black dragon will not go into the Black Lake again."

Dumbledore assured the merperson queen in the merperson language.

He could see that Ethan had no interest in the Black Lake, especially in these Merrows.

Their appearance really didn't conform to human aesthetics, especially for an LSP like Ethan.

If it weren't for this Triwizard Tournament, Dumbledore estimated that Ethan would never approach them in his life.

So, without any special circumstances, Ethan would naturally not go into the Black Lake to contact them, so the black dragon would naturally not appear in front of them again.

If these Merrows were replaced by Sirens, Dumbledore wouldn't dare to make such a guarantee.

He even suspected that Ethan would transform into a black dragon and go down there every few days.

"Can you solve it?"

Queen Murcus of the merpeople was still very respectful to Dumbledore.

The main reason was that these humanoid magical creature groups living near Hogwarts had made agreements with the previous Hogwarts headmasters, mainly to restrain these groups. If they wanted to live here, they had to abide by his rules, and naturally, they had to show their strength in this process.

Dumbledore was naturally no exception. He had easily suppressed this merperson queen's mother, who was the previous merperson queen.

But even knowing that Dumbledore was powerful enough, even one of the best among wizards, she was still a little doubtful at the moment.

The main reason was that the black dragon's oppressive feeling was too strong, giving them a feeling of invincibility. It wasn't a normal creature at all. There was no record in the merpeople's history of such a huge black dragon that could go into the water.

Moreover, the other party could move freely in the water. With that kind of speed, even if they wanted to run, they couldn't once it attacked.

"No, but this time the black dragon appeared in the Black Lake is related to the Triwizard Tournament."

Hearing this, Queen Murcus of the merpeople breathed a sigh of relief. It was related to the Triwizard Tournament, which meant that it had no interest in the merpeople. No wonder it went to rescue a wizard who was tied underwater.

But she quickly thought of something and immediately said firmly:

"Our merpeople will not participate in the Triwizard Tournament arrangements in the future."

After speaking, she looked at Dumbledore seriously. She didn't know how many more Triwizard Tournaments there would be in the future. If it happened every few years, which merperson could bear it?

When they encountered the black dragon underwater earlier, many merpeople were frightened, and even now they were still hiding in caves or stone houses. If it weren't for wanting to communicate with Dumbledore about the black dragon, she wouldn't have come out herself.

Anyway, they would not join the so-called Triwizard Tournament projects in the future.

"I can guarantee that during my tenure, I will not let you participate in the Triwizard Tournament projects."

Dumbledore also knew that after this time, Durmstrang and Beauxbatons would definitely not agree to hold the Triwizard Tournament in a short time. Even if they agreed, it wouldn't be at Hogwarts.

As for how many years later, who knew? Maybe it would be stopped for a while and then restarted like it is now.

Moreover, he wouldn't give any promises that could represent future headmasters.

But Queen Murcus of the merpeople naturally didn't quite agree with Dumbledore's answer.

With Dumbledore's age, how many more years could he live? Even if he was still alive, he might not be able to do it for a few more years before retiring. It was really not a guarantee.

"This…"

Before Queen Murcus of the merpeople could finish speaking, Dumbledore interrupted her.

"If there is anything to discuss later, you can go to the headmaster of the current term. I have no right to make decisions for them."

"Now, it's time to tell me about the champions' performance below, Murcus!"

Looking at Dumbledore, who had no room for negotiation, Queen Murcus of the merpeople also remembered that the positions of both sides were not equal, so she had to start talking about the performance of these champions below. Of course, she could only say what she knew.

But due to the intrusion of the black dragon, what she knew was actually not much. After all, due to fear, most of them hid, how dare they observe outside.

It was only because the black dragon had left the Black Lake and hadn't moved for a while that they dared to come out and rescue the champions.

After understanding the situation, Dumbledore dismissed the mermaid chieftain Murcus and turned to discuss with the other judges.

Although they were skeptical of Dumbledore's words, their actual observations from above were largely consistent.

Therefore, Karkaroff and Madame Maxime did not refute him.

Soon, the discussion concluded, but as a result, Karkaroff and Madame Maxime looked rather displeased.

Watching Ludo Bagman step onto the stage to announce the results, the boisterous audience members clenched their fists.

At the same time, the champions were also on edge, especially those who had exceeded the time limit without successfully rescuing their partners.

Even though they knew their headmasters would never give a zero score, what if?

Wouldn't they become a laughingstock like that redhead?

Under the watchful eyes of almost everyone present, Ludo Bagman cast a Sonorus charm on himself.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have finally made a decision. The mermaid chieftain Murcus has told us everything that happened at the bottom of the lake. We have decided to score the champions out of a possible fifty points as follows…"

"Ethan Iadrian, his outstanding Transfiguration skills have opened our eyes. Having rescued the hostage in less than half the allotted time, we award him the full fifty points."

Cheers erupted from the stands. Ethan's full score was certainly undisputed.

If it weren't a full score, they would suspect some kind of foul play.

Ludo Bagman then announced again.

"Fleur Delacour, having charmed the Grindylows, also rescued the hostage in less than half the time. Therefore, we award her forty-seven points!"

A burst of enthusiastic cheers came from the Beauxbatons side. Forty-seven points was not bad, only three points less than Ethan, which was indeed unbeatable.

Moreover, they knew the reason for the deduction, which was definitely because Fleur had taken a potion during the competition.

"Harry Potter, although having taken Gillyweed, successfully rescued the hostage before the end of the competition. We award him thirty-eight points."

The Hogwarts students applauded enthusiastically. Although not as good as Ethan, some points were better than none. This performance was already good enough, what more could they ask for?

Even Harry himself breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this score. He knew that without Ethan's reminder, his performance would undoubtedly be a zero. Now, being able to get over thirty points was more than satisfactory.

"Viktor Krum used Transfiguration, although incomplete, it was still effective. He also rescued the hostage within the allotted time. Therefore, we award him forty-two points."

Sparse applause sounded in the arena, mainly from a few Krum fans. Even the Durmstrang students were embarrassed to applaud. What was there to applaud about being behind Hogwarts and Beauxbatons?

The vast majority of Krum fans at Hogwarts remained indifferent, mainly because anyone with eyes could see that the two shameless headmasters were interfering again. Otherwise, based on Krum's later arrival than Harry, why would he get four more points?

"Field Durell, used incomplete Transfiguration, exceeded the competition time by one minute, successfully rescued the hostage, we award him thirty-four points."

"Richardson Clarence, also used incomplete Transfiguration, exceeded the competition time by two minutes, successfully rescued the hostage, we award him thirty-three points."

"Hesel Godwin, took Polyjuice Potion, although successfully rescued the hostage, but exceeded the competition time by five minutes, we award her thirty points!"

Finally, Ludo Bagman also gave a score of twelve points to Ron and Hilda Donahue, who failed to rescue the hostages.

This was also the result of Dumbledore's efforts. He was a little unhappy with the last round. Both of them had no gains. Why should his school's students get zero points, while the champions of other schools could get points? If it continued like this, would he still be the headmaster?

Under Dumbledore's strong demand, either everyone got zero points or everyone got points, Karkaroff and Madame Maxime had no choice but to compromise. Otherwise, if Dumbledore started to break the rules, their three judges would ultimately be the ones to suffer.

After Ludo Bagman announced the scores of all the champions.

The number 81 on the Hogwarts sign on the high platform kept jumping, eventually stopping at the number 181.

The Beauxbatons sign, which originally read 93 points, also kept jumping until it stopped at 182.

Durmstrang's 54 became 163 points.

This result was also the reason why Karkaroff and Madame Maxime looked unhappy.

Although Beauxbatons was still in first place, this score was no longer safe, only one point higher than Hogwarts, and could be surpassed at any time. They still had the lowest score in this competition.

They had originally hoped to continue expanding their advantage, but the result was what it was now.

Although Durmstrang had the most points in this competition, compared to Beauxbatons and Hogwarts, the gap was still more than twenty points. Karkaroff was not at all confident whether they could catch up in the final match.

Chapter 276: Moody's Reminder

Time came to June, and the only major event that happened during this time was Barty Crouch, and because Ethan did not intervene, his ending was no different from the original.

At the same time, as this time approached, the atmosphere in Hogwarts Castle became tense and excited again.

The fifth years were about to begin their O.W.L. exams, and the seventh years were also taking the N.E.W.T. assessments, which were crucial for their future development.

At the same time, the seventh-year students were about to graduate and had to prepare for future employment, needing to participate in the career guidance of various deans.

But all of this had nothing to do with Ethan, after all, Ethan was only a fourth year this year.

Similarly, the final match of the Triwizard Tournament was held one week before the holidays.

Due to participating in the Triwizard Tournament, Ethan did not need to participate in the final exams this year, and the final grades were scored by the professors of each subject based on his usual performance.

In this regard, Ethan was not afraid of getting a low score this year. After all, even Snape could not find any fault with his usual performance, even in Potions class, let alone other subjects.

In addition, Ethan was also participating in the Triwizard Tournament and had won two full scores. If the score was low at that time, wouldn't it be a slap in his own face?

Therefore, Ethan didn't need to worry about his grades this year at all.

Ethan was relaxed, but the other champions were quite pressed for time. Taking Harry and Ron as examples, they spent every day in the training room practicing spells during this time. Beauxbatons and Durmstrang were also similar.

Fleur spent less time out during this time, and Madame Maxime took her to practice for two hours every night.

Moreover, it was unknown where the news came from, but the venue for the third match was a maze.

Time came to June 24, which was the last day of the Triwizard Tournament.

The Great Hall was particularly lively in the morning. Ethan and several roommates were enjoying breakfast at the Ravenclaw table. The competition was in the evening, so there was no rush.

But after Professor McGonagall said something to Harry and Ron at the Gryffindor table, she walked towards the Ravenclaw table.

"Iadrian, the champions will gather in the meeting room next to the Great Hall after breakfast."