Chapter 281 Before the final game

"It's quite cruel, isn't it?"

Dracula stared at Crouch's frozen face in the picture and said in a slightly mocking tone, "I tried my best to stabilize the situation in the magical world, but my own child became crazy."

"Old Barty has done a good job, at least he didn't favor his son at all." Dumbledore sighed.

"Perhaps in his eyes, his son should have been a top student who didn't need to worry about himself. It wouldn't be too late to wait until the situation in the magic world stabilized before he started to care... But he thought wrong. When it comes to this trial, everything will change. It’s already too late.”

"Ha..." Dracula suddenly sneered, "If he was really so selfless, why did what I saw in the Azkaban cemetery in the end be the remnant soul of Mrs. Crouch? "

Dumbledore fell silent again.

"I can actually guess what old Barty was thinking at that time." After a while, he said, "Mrs. Crouch's body has actually been very weak for a long time. After little Barty was imprisoned in Azkaban, she became even more He's seriously ill and doesn't have much time left..."

"I guess she was begging old Barty to use her short life to get her son out of Azkaban -"

"Polyjuice Potion can do it. As long as she is buried within the time limit of the Polyjuice Potion, she will not be discovered by others. Everyone will only think that little Barty died in the cell."

"That's right, then what happened next makes sense." Dracula said with a smile, "Crouch locked up his son, but he didn't expect Voldemort to regain his power and find out about Barty Crow Jr. After hearing the news that Qi was not dead, he personally rescued his loyal servant."

"It's a pity that old Barty has been tough all his life," Dumbledore shook his head and sighed. "He only relented once, but he got himself involved."

"Okay, there's nothing more to say about this matter." Dracula waved his hand indifferently and floated into the air, "Let's check the facilities of the third project carefully. Maybe Barty Crouch Jr. It's hidden somewhere near the castle."

Having said that, he broke through the frozen scene of the courtroom and turned the space upside down.

The next moment, Dracula was back in the Hogwarts principal's office, standing next to the pensieve, the same position as before entering the courtroom.

The pensieve gleamed in the cabinet in front of Dracula, and Dumbledore stood beside him, turning to look at him.

"Professor Dracula, when it comes to the third project, the safety of the warriors will be entrusted to you."

Dumbledore said solemnly.

…

Entering June, the atmosphere in the castle became tense and exciting again.

Everyone is looking forward to the last event of the Four-wizard Tournament, which will be held one week before the holiday. This will determine who will win the final victory for their school, and also prove in disguise which magic school is the best among the four schools. the best.

As a warrior, Harry took Ron and Hermione to practice spells whenever he had free time.

He felt that he was more confident than the previous two times——

Although the game was certainly fraught with dangers, Harry had successfully passed the test of large magical animals and magical obstacles, and this time he had been notified in advance and had the opportunity to make some preparations accordingly.

Professor McGonagall caught Harry, Hermione and Ron practicing around the school several times, so she made an exception and allowed them to use the Transfiguration classroom to practice magic during lunch time.

At the same time, Hermione obtained a borrowing slip from Dracula leading to the restricted book area——

Hermione thought that Professor Dracula might think that the books in the restricted area were no big deal and didn't take them seriously, so he approved the notes very easily.

Under such favorable conditions, Harry quickly mastered the Obstruction Charm, which can be used to stop attackers; the Shattering Charm, which can blow up solid obstacles; and the Directional Charm that Hermione found in a spell book. , which can make Harry's wand point to true north, so that he can judge whether the direction is correct in the maze.

It is a pity that he has not fully mastered the very practical Iron Armor Charm, which can temporarily form an invisible solid wall. Unfortunately, during the sparring, Hermione cleverly broke it with a Soft Leg Charm.

"You've done well," Hermione said encouragingly, looking at her spell list and ticking off the spells they had learned. "I'm sure some of these spells will come in handy."

In addition, Harry often corresponded with his godfather Sirius during this time.

Sirius, like Hermione, seemed bent on helping Harry get through the third project safely - he reminded Harry in every letter that you have no responsibility and no ability to care about things outside the walls of Hogwarts. exert influence on them.

"If Voldemort is really regaining his strength, I think we must first ensure your safety. With Dumbledore's protection, it is impossible for him to attack you directly, but you have to be more careful and don't take risks."

"What you have to think about now is how to get out of the maze safely. We will discuss other issues later."

Sirius warned Harry in his letter.

As June 24th approached, Harry became more and more nervous, but his mentality was better than before the first and second projects.

First of all, he believed that he had done his best to prepare this time. Moreover, this is the last event. Regardless of whether the results are good or bad, the competition is coming to an end and this big burden can be removed.

More importantly, in the first two events, Harry has proven himself to everyone. Even if his performance in the last game is not ideal, he will no longer be easily laughed at.

…

Time flies by, and the day of the final exam quietly arrives.

Triwizard champions were not required to take final exams, so Harry sat at the back of the classroom for each exam, looking for useful spells for the third project.

In the Defense Against the Dark Arts exam, as expected, Professor Dracula was not in the classroom for such a boring thing as proctoring the exam. His replacement was still Assistant Riddle, who looked no older than the senior students.

"Harry, I guess you also got some news... about that person." After the exam, Riddle collected the papers and walked directly to Harry.

"That person?" Harry asked doubtfully.

"Mysterious Man, I heard that his power has been restored." Riddle drove away Ron and Hermione who wanted to get closer. He waited until everyone in the classroom was gone before whispering to Harry.

"Well, I heard Mr. Crouch say that before." Harry said, "But Mr. Crouch is not mentally normal, so Sirius and I both think that his words cannot be fully believed."

"It's always right to be careful." Riddle said with a frown, "If I were that person, I would definitely choose to take action on the third project. There is no more suitable place to take action than that maze."

Riddle has been a little uneasy recently, because he feels that his main soul has experienced something unknown, and the soul power has become extremely powerful in a short period of time, as if it has returned to its peak.

As the same person at different times, he could easily guess what Voldemort wanted to do next——

After the soul is restored, obtaining a body becomes a top priority.

As for the method of obtaining a body, Riddle is also quite clear. After all, his current body was made by Voldemort at that time.

The flesh of your servants, the bones of your father, the blood of your enemies.

Among them, in order to resist the blood magic created by Lily Potter with love, Voldemort would inevitably choose to use Harry's blood as his enemy's blood, so the maze in the third project is probably the best time he chose to kidnap Harry.

Riddle was a little scared. He had already broken up with his main soul, and Voldemort had restored the power of his soul. If Voldemort was allowed to regain his physical body, he would have no resistance to his main soul.

This was unacceptable to Riddle, who wanted to become independent.

"Tom, are you thinking too much?" Harry couldn't imagine such a complicated thing. Instead, he smiled and joked with Riddle, "Professor Dracula is the security officer, and Professor Dumbledore is not far away. How dare Voldemort come to Hogwarts when he is at the judges' table?"

"Be serious, Harry, I'm not joking." Riddle said with a straight face, "What if he has other ways to hide it from Professor Dracula and Dumbledore?"

"Don't worry, Tom, I will be more careful." Harry replied, "Sirius also warned me the same way. Getting out of the maze safely is the primary goal...I will send a distress signal in time when I encounter danger! "

Riddle felt a little more relieved and nodded to Harry, but his expression still looked a little worried.

…

The next day was also the day when the last event of the semifinals competition began.

Harry received a notification from Professor McGonagall during breakfast.

"Potter, the warriors will gather in the conference room next to the auditorium after breakfast," she said.

"But the game only started at night!" Harry was stunned for a moment. He thought he had remembered the time wrong, and his heartbeat skipped half a beat.

"I know, Potter," Professor McGonagall nodded. "This gathering has nothing to do with the competition... The warriors' relatives have been invited to watch the finals. You can meet them."

She walked away. Harry stared at her back in a daze.

"Relatives? She won't call the Dursleys here, right?" he asked Ron beside him blankly.

"I don't know," Ron responded casually, hurriedly packing his schoolbag, "Harry, I have to leave quickly, I'm going to be late for the exam. See you later."

In the gradually deserted Great Hall, Harry finished his breakfast.

Soon after, Fleur Delacour stood up from the Ravenclaw table and walked into the conference room with Cedric. After a while Krum also lazily went away.

But Harry sat still.

He really didn't want to see any relatives. He had no relatives - no relatives who were willing to see him risk his life in the game.

But just as he stood up, planning to go to the library to study some spells, the door to the conference room opened and Cedric poked his head out.

"Harry, come on, your family is waiting for you!"

Harry stood up in confusion. He felt that it was impossible for the Dursleys to come, so who was coming?

He walked through the hall, opened the door and walked into the conference room.

Cedric and his parents stood by the door. Mr. Amos Diggory was the Director of the Department of Magical Creatures in the Ministry of Magic. He had fought against the Death Eaters with Mr. Weasley during the Quidditch World Cup;

Viktor Krum was in a corner of the room, speaking rapid Bulgarian to his dark-haired parents;

On the other side, Fleur was chattering to her mother in French. Fleur's sister Gabrielle held her mother's hand and waved her other hand towards Harry, who waved back. Grinning.

Then he turned his head and saw three unexpected people.

Mrs. Weasley, Bill Weasley, and Sirius stood in front of the fireplace, looking at him with smiles.

"Surprise!" Sirius said with a playful smile, opening his arms to Harry.

The big stone in Harry's heart was immediately relieved, and he walked forward with a smile on his face and hugged Sirius.

"We want to come watch you play, Harry!" Mrs. Weasley also leaned over and kissed Harry on the cheek. "Thanks to Professor McGonagall, she agreed to allow us to come as relatives."

"How are you?" Bill also smiled and shook hands with Harry, "Charlie wanted to come too, but he couldn't leave. He said the scene between you and the Horntails was so exciting, it was incredible!"

Harry noticed Fleur Delacour looking over his mother's shoulder at Bill with interest.

It was obvious that she was curious about Bill's long hair and dragon tooth earrings.

"You are so kind," Harry said softly to Sirius and Mrs. Weasley, "I was still wondering who would come, Dursley..."

"Don't mention that stupid pig to me." Sirius said angrily, "They don't deserve to be your family members at all!"

Mrs. Weasley also pursed her lips.

She had always avoided criticizing the Dursleys in front of Harry, but her eyes would sparkle every time she heard their names.

"It's good to be back," Bill said, looking around the conference room. "I haven't seen this place for five years. Is the portrait of the mad knight still there? Is it called Sir Cadogan?"

"Oh, it's still there," said Harry. Sir Cadogan had shown the door to the Gryffindor common room last year.

"Where's the Fat Lady?" Bill asked again.

"She was there when I was in school," Mrs. Weasley interjected. "One day I came back to the dormitory at four o'clock in the morning, and she gave me a hard scolding..."

"What are you doing outside the dormitory at four o'clock in the morning?" Bill said, looking at his mother in surprise.

Mrs. Weasley smiled, her eyes sparkling.

"Your father and I were out for a walk, but he was caught by the caretaker at the time, Apolion Pringle." As she said that, she looked at Sirius again, "Speaking of night walks, Sirius is more experienced. ?”

"Of course," Sirius said with a proud face, "If we talk about the number of night outings, I would say that no student dares to say that I am number two!"

"Fred and George too?" Harry said in surprise.

"They are not qualified either!" Sirius laughed.

Under the leadership of "night tour expert" Sirius, they wandered around the castle talking and laughing.

Unknowingly, the evening star pushed away the night curtain, and the moonlight sprinkled the silver gauze.

Night is coming.

The last game is about to begin.

…

…