Chapter 249: Speculations about the mastermind behind the scenes

"Albus, do you think... someone really wants to kill Potter?"

After everyone else left, Professor McGonagall pursed her lips hesitantly and looked at Dumbledore.

"Eh? Professor McGonagall, didn't you just agree with Dumbledore's ideas very confidently?" Dracula came over and asked curiously, "Can an upright Professor McGonagall also use lies to deceive others? "

"I'm not lying!" Professor McGonagall's face turned a little red and she looked a little guilty. "Potter, a little wizard who is only fourteen years old, actually wants to participate in the same competition as those seventeen-year-old adult students..."

"Of course the Goblet of Fire can't be that ridiculous, but those outsiders think that Hogwarts is using this method to gain an advantage!"

As Professor McGonagall spoke, her initially guilty mood gradually turned into anger:

"Merlin, Potter is in danger of death! If Professor Hicks hadn't brought it up, none of them would have thought that this was a matter of life and death for a fourteen-year-old child. They only know how to worry about such trivial matters!"

"Minerva, calm down first." Dumbledore smiled and used his wand to conjure a cup of hot water and handed it to Professor McGonagall. "After all, this is the first time that a school has produced two warriors. Maxim It’s normal to have some emotions with Karkaroff.”

"As for whether someone really wants to kill Harry... I think so. It's obvious. The Goblet of Fire is a magical creation that is fair, has powerful magic and strict rules. Spitting out Harry's name from the cup is definitely not a classmate. The pranks in time can be explained."

He turned his attention to Dracula, "Professor Dracula, you seem to have some insights?"

"That's right." Dracula nodded slightly, "It's a pretty good confusion spell, and I've found the easiest way to affect the Goblet of Fire..."

"The person who cast the spell on the Goblet of Fire changed part of the Goblet of Fire's perception, making it recognize the original four magic schools as five - this is actually not complicated. The Ministry of Magic had already set it up when Yin Famaini joined. Once, that person must have a high status in the Ministry of Magic and be able to learn how to change the rules of the Goblet of Fire."

"In my opinion, this matter is already obvious. The person who tampered with the Goblet of Fire is most likely the director of the International Magic Exchange and Cooperation Department, Mr. Barty Crouch."

Dracula had a playful smile on his face and stared into Dumbledore's eyes. "I had doubts about him as early as the Quidditch World Cup. His efficiency in rushing to the Dark Mark was too high."

"Not only that, but an upright diplomat from the Ministry of Magic actually ignored Principal Beauxbatons's protest and insisted on letting Potter participate in the Four Wizards Tournament? Anyway, I find it a bit strange."

Professor McGonagall had already opened her eyes wide, with a very incredible expression on her face.

"How could this be possible...Mr. Crouch has always been the strongest resister in the war against Voldemort more than ten years ago. How could he help Voldemort to trap Potter more than ten years later?" she questioned. .

"But Professor Dracula's judgment is also very reasonable," Dumbledore thought for a moment, nodded slightly and said, "If Barty is controlled by the Imperius Curse, then everything makes sense."

"No, he was not hit by the Imperius Curse." Dracula shook his head, "The time Crouch spent explaining the rules of the game to the warriors was enough for me to probe his mental state... although his mental state does seem to be... It’s very tiring, but there’s really no sign of being under control.”

"If what Professor Dracula said is true, then Barty would not be the one who cast the spell on the Goblet of Fire..." Dumbledore's eyes narrowed and he changed his words, "I know Barty's character very well, he can't be Do things for Voldemort."

"Albus, could someone use Polyjuice Potion to pretend to be Mr. Crouch?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"There is a certain possibility, and I will find out about it." Dumbledore said solemnly, "But, Professor Dracula, there is another issue here that is different from your inference..."

"After the welcome banquet last night, Barty and Bagman left the auditorium without stopping at all - he didn't have any time to tamper with the rules of the Goblet of Fire."

"Yeah, Crouch shouldn't have the chance to cast a confusion spell on the Goblet of Fire..." Professor McGonagall frowned tightly, "The Goblet of Fire was always tightly sealed in the box before the banquet started. .”

"What if Crouch had already done something wrong when the Ministry of Magic revised the number of participating schools?" Dracula asked.

"That's not right... The Goblet of Fire rules were revised in the presence of almost all senior officials, and Crouch also had no chance to do anything." Professor McGonagall shook her head.

"Is this so..." Dracula finally fell silent.

If judged based on the time of the crime, Barty Crouch does have sufficient alibi...

"There's no need to be so pessimistic. In fact, we have other directions." Dumbledore's voice interrupted Dracula's thoughts, "In fact, there were people watching over the Goblet of Fire all night long." Maybe he has some clues for us?"

He looked at a portrait hanging on the wall next to him and smiled: "Miss Violet, could you please help me call Mr. Argus Filch?"

The painting hanging on the wall was the Fat Lady's good friend. She accepted the principal's commission very excitedly and ran to other portraits in the castle to look for the squib gatekeeper.

"Mr. Filch, does he have anything to do with this?" Professor McGonagall looked a little confused.

"Ah, Minerva, of course I won't let students freely cross the age line to sign up without anyone watching over them." Dumbledore said with a smile, "I asked Argus to look after the Goblet of Fire for me. one night."

"If any little wizard tries to cheat and crosses the age line and is punished, he can also help send them to the school infirmary... The two little guys in front of the twins from Wes are Argus and send them to Madam Pomfrey. of."

Not long after, the janitor Filch came to the room in front of the auditorium carrying a bucket of water and a rag.

"Here we are, Mr. Principal!" Violet said happily on the wall.

"Thank you very much for your help, Miss Violet." Dumbledore smiled at the portrait, then looked at the door, "Oh, Argus, put the rag down first, don't work so hard. We have something to do. ask you."

He asked about what happened last night.

"Oh! Do you want to know how that Harry Potter threw his name into the Goblet of Fire?" Filch said a little excitedly, "Let me tell you, that Gryffindor troublemaker He must have thrown it in secretly, I know he has an invisibility cloak that can hide it from my eyes!"

"Argus, the invisibility cloak cannot hide the age line!" Dumbledore corrected, "You just need to tell us what happened last night."

"Oh...Okay, if you want to know." Filch seemed a little disappointed that he couldn't complain about the students, but out of respect for the principal, he still talked about what happened last night seriously:

"In fact, not much happened last night—"

"A few seventh-grade students put their names in, but there was no movement in the cup; there were also two junior students who were desperate and wanted to sneak into the age line, and then they grew a lot of white beards... I put them Two were sent to the school infirmary."

"Is that all?" Dumbledore asked.

"That's all, Mr. Headmaster," Filch said. "If you ask me, looking at this Goblet of Fire is completely meaningless. Several Gryffindor brats sneaked out for night walks but I couldn't catch them. Instead, I couldn't catch them. Cheng Pingping, there must be a few more students in solitary confinement to help me..."

"I see," Dumbledore nodded to Filch and let him leave the room. "Thank you, Argus."

"What do you think?" he asked Dracula and Professor McGonagall.

"His opinion has no reference. He is just a squib, and any student can fool him around." Dracula smiled and shook his head, "If I were the guy who wanted to tamper with the Goblet of Fire, I would definitely I will explore the surroundings first and easily find this guy who doesn’t even have magic power.”

"But according to Mr. Filch, he didn't see anything all night." Professor McGonagall said, "Even if the figure can be obscured by the Disillusionment Curse, the color change of the magic flame in the Goblet of Fire cannot be hidden from anyone. ,so……"

"So it was probably Filch who did it when he sent the two students to the school infirmary." Dumbledore said, "Argus was not present the whole time. The person who tampered with the Goblet of Fire was probably I took advantage of the gap when he left to cast the confusion spell."

"So after discussing it for so long, we still haven't made any progress!" Dracula sneered.

"It's not that easy to find a person lurking in the dark." Dumbledore sighed, "Oh? Severus, what do you think?"

At this moment, Dumbledore was surprised to see Snape, who had been sitting silently in his seat from beginning to end, suddenly stand up.

"I don't have any opinion. I have no intention of wasting time here with you." Snape said coldly, "You might as well do something practical, such as adding more insurance to this game..."

"Mr. Principal, if you don't want the savior you're looking for to die in the Four Powers Tournament, then I suggest you find someone who is responsible for security to watch over you on the field... If you're too lazy to find one, that's fine, I'll be just fine. I've been bored lately, so I can help you with this."

Dracula glanced at Snape in surprise.

"You want to be Potter's security officer?" he asked with interest.

"I told you, I only wanted to be a security guard when I was bored!" Snape said angrily, "I did it for the reputation of Hogwarts, not for that idiot Harry Potter!"

"Okay, okay, we get it." Dracula teased with a playful expression, "I really can't tell that you still have the potential to be a nanny."

"I told you, I'm not a security officer just for Potter!" Snape roared with a sullen face.

"Severus, with your emotional stability, it's hard for me to safely entrust you with the safety of the game." Dumbledore said softly, "I'm very afraid that you won't care about other people's lives and deaths, only..."

"Enough!" Snape interrupted Dumbledore, "In that case, you are looking for whoever you like, but I want to see how you end up if you let the warrior die in Hogwarts!"

After that, he flicked his sleeves, opened the door and strode out, his long black cloak fluttering behind him.

Dracula looked at this scene, and interest gradually appeared in his eyes.

"Dumbledore, is there really such a position as a safety officer in this game?" he asked.

"Originally there wasn't one, but what Severus said makes sense. We should indeed add such a position." Dumbledore said thoughtfully, "Severus is very capable and would have been a very suitable candidate." …”

"Unfortunately, his unfair behavior is too famous in Hogwarts. I am a little worried about Maxim and Karkaroff's emotions."

"If that's the case..." Dracula suddenly raised the corners of his mouth.

He looked at Snape's distant back with his black cloak fluttering, and shouted to him loudly:

"Snape, I'll take the position of security officer for you! Don't worry, with me here, there will definitely be no problems with those little guys."

Snape's steps paused.

Dracula saw that his tense shoulders suddenly dropped together with the fluttering cloak behind him, as if he suddenly relaxed a lot.

Then, he stopped staying and walked out of the auditorium again.

…

After Halloween is over, there is less than a month until the start of the first project.

The five warriors are basically trying to prepare for the upcoming game, except for one of the youngest warriors...

Compared to the other four warriors, Harry's life was very difficult.

Except for Hermione, who had always believed that the Four-wizard Tournament was very dangerous, almost everyone in Gryffindor House didn't believe that he didn't sign up, and complained about why he didn't tell them how to cross the age line;

Hufflepuff House had always had a good relationship with Gryffindor, but recently it had become visibly cold. Apparently they thought Harry had stolen Cedric's honor.

As for the Slytherin students, Harry could have imagined this a long time ago, and they went even further——

After lunch one day, he and Hermione went to Snape's underground classroom for Potions class, and found that the Slytherin students were waiting outside the classroom, each with a large gold medal pinned to the front of their robes. badge.

The same words were printed on those badges, and each bright red letter shone in the dim light of the underground corridor, like it was on fire:

"Supporting Cedric Diggory -

The True Warriors of Hogwarts"

"Do you like it, Potter?" Malfoy said loudly as Harry approached, "They have other tricks too - look!"

He pressed the badge hard on his chest, and the words on it disappeared, and then another line of words appeared, shining green:

"Potter stinks"

The Slytherins laughed strangely.

Each of them clicked their badge, and finally the glaring words - POTTER STINKS - flashed all around Harry.

Harry thought life as a warrior was terrible!

…

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