Chapter 281: Chapter 281 Before the last match
"It's really cruel, isn't it?"
Dracula stared at Crouch's frozen face in the picture, and said with a slightly mocking tone, "He tried his best to stabilize the situation in the wizarding world, but his 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 an excellent student who didn't need to worry about him. It wouldn't be too late to care about him after the situation in the wizarding world stabilized... But he was wrong. By the time of this trial, everything was too late."
"Heh..." Dracula suddenly sneered, "If he really showed such selflessness, why did I see Mrs. Crouch's residual soul in the cemetery of Azkaban in the end?"
Dumbledore fell silent again.
"I can actually guess what old Barty was thinking at the time." After a while, he said, "Mrs. Crouch's body has been very weak for a long time. After Barty Jr. was imprisoned in Azkaban, she became seriously ill and didn't have much time left..."
"I guess she should have begged old Barty to use her life, which was not long at that time, to exchange her son from Azkaban-"
"The 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 Barty Jr. died in the cell."
"That's right, then the following things make sense." Dracula smiled faintly, "Crouch took his son He was locked up, but he didn't expect Voldemort to regain his strength and find out that Barty Crouch Jr. was not dead, so 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 was soft-hearted just this once, but he got himself into trouble."
"Okay, there's nothing more to say about this matter." Dracula waved his hand indifferently and floated into the air, "Check the facilities of the third project carefully. Barty Crouch Jr. may be hiding somewhere near the castle."
After that, he broke through the frozen picture of the trial room and turned the space over.
The next moment, Dracula returned to the principal's office of Hogwarts and stood next to the Pensieve, which was exactly the same as the position before entering the trial room.
The Pensieve was shining in the cabinet in front of Dracula. Dumbledore stood beside him and turned to look at him.
"Professor Dracula, when the third task comes, the safety of the warriors will be in your hands."
Dumbledore said solemnly. freewebnøvel.com
...
Into June, the atmosphere in the castle became tense and excited again.
Everyone was looking forward to the last task of the four-strong competition to be held a week before the holiday, which would determine who would win the final victory for their school and prove which magic school was the best among the four schools.
As a warrior, Harry would practice spells with Ron and Hermione whenever he had time.
He felt more confident than the previous two times -
Although this game was definitely full of dangers, Harry had successfully passed the test of large magical animals and magical obstacles, and this time he was notified in advance and had the opportunity to make some corresponding preparations.
Professor McGonagall ran into Harry, Hermione and Ron practicing everywhere in 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 asked Dracula for a book-borrowing slip to the restricted section.
Hermione thought that Professor Dracula might think that the books in the restricted section were nothing important and didn't take them seriously, so he approved the slips very easily.
Under such favorable conditions, Harry quickly mastered the barrier spell, which can be used to block attackers the crushing spell, which can blow up solid obstacles and the directional spell that Hermione found in a spell book, which can make Harry's wand point to the north, so that he can judge whether the direction is correct in the maze.
It's a pity that he hasn't fully mastered the very practical armor spell, which can temporarily form an invisible wall. Unfortunately, Hermione cleverly broke it with a weak leg spell during the sparring.
"You practiced well," Hermione said encouragingly, looking at her spell list and ticking off the spells they had learned, "Some of these spells will definitely come in handy."
In addition, Harry often communicated with his godfather Sirius during this period.
Sirius, like Hermione, seemed determined to help Harry pass the third task safely - he reminded Harry in every letter that you have no responsibility for things outside the walls of Hogwarts, and you have no ability to influence them.
"If Voldemort is really regaining his strength, I think you should be safe first. With Dumbledore's protection, he can't attack you directly, but you have to be more careful and don't take risks."
"Now you have to think about how to get out of the maze safely, and other problems will be dealt with later."
Sirius warned Harry in the letter.
As June 24 approached, Harry became more and more nervous, but his mentality was better than before the first and second tasks.
First of all, he believed that he had done his best to prepare this time. Moreover, this was the last project. Regardless of whether the results were good or bad, the competition was about to end, and this big burden could be unloaded.
More importantly, in the first two projects, Harry had proved himself to everyone. Even if he didn't perform well in the last game, he would not be easily laughed at again.
...
Time flies, and the day of the final exams quietly arrives.
The warriors of the Triwizard Tournament can not take the final exams, so Harry sits at the back of the classroom for every 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 invigilation. He was replaced by Assistant Riddle, who looked no older than a senior student.
"Harry, I guess you should have also received some news... about that person." After the exam, Riddle collected the test papers and walked straight to Harry.
"That person?" Harry asked in confusion.
"Mysterious man, I heard that his power has recovered." Riddle drove away Ron and Hermione who wanted to get close to him, and waited until everyone in the classroom had left before whispering to Harry.
"Well, I heard Mr. Crouch say that before." Harry said, "But Mr. Crouch's mental state is not normal, so Sirius and I think we can't trust his words completely."
"It's always right to be careful." Riddle frowned and said, "If I were that person, I would definitely choose to tamper with the third project. There is no better place to do it than that maze."
Riddle has been a little uneasy recently, because he feels that his main soul has experienced something, and his soul power has become extremely strong in a short period of time, as if it has returned to its peak.
As the same person at different times, he can easily guess what Voldemort wants 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 servants, the bones of fathers, and the blood of enemies. freёwebnovel.com
Among them, in order to resist the blood magic created by Lily Potter with love, Voldemort will inevitably choose to use Harry's blood as the enemy's blood, so the maze of the third project is likely to be the best time for him to kidnap Harry.
Riddle was a little scared. He had already torn his face with his main soul, and Voldemort had restored the power of his soul. If Voldemort was allowed to recover his body, he would have no resistance to his main soul at all.
This was unacceptable to Riddle, who wanted to be independent.
"Tom, are you thinking too much?" Harry couldn't think of such a complicated thing. Instead, he smiled and joked with Riddle, "With Professor Dracula as a security guard and Professor Dumbledore also sitting on the judging panel not far away, how dare Voldemort come to Hogwarts?"
"Be serious, Harry, I'm not joking." Riddle said with a straight face, "What if he has other ways to hide from Professor Dracula and Dumbledore?"
"Don't worry, Tom, I'll be more careful." Harry replied, "Sirius also warned me that getting out of the maze safely is the primary goal... I will send out a distress signal in time if I encounter danger!"
Riddle was a little relieved and nodded to Harry, but his expression still looked a little worried.
...
The next day was the day when the last event of the semi-finals began.
Harry received a notice 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 doesn't start until tonight!" Harry was stunned for a moment. He thought he had remembered the time wrong, and his heart skipped a beat.
"I know, Potter," Professor McGonagall nodded, "This gathering has nothing to do with the game... The relatives of the champions are invited to watch the finals. You can meet them."
She walked away. Harry stared at her back in a daze.
"Relatives? Did she call the Dursleys over?" He asked Ron beside him blankly.
"I don't know," Ron replied casually, packing his schoolbag in a hurry, "Harry, I have to go quickly, I'm going to be late for the exam. See you later."
In the gradually deserted hall, Harry finished his breakfast.
Soon after, Fleur Delacour stood up from the long table of Ravenclaw and walked into the meeting room with Cedric. After a while, Krum also went there lazily.
But Harry sat there without moving.
He really didn't want to meet any relatives. He had no relatives - no relatives who were willing to watch him risk his life to compete.
But just as he stood up and was about to go to the library to study some spells, the door of the conference room opened and Cedric stuck his head out.
"Harry, come on, your family is waiting for you!"
Harry stood up in confusion. He thought the Dursleys were impossible to come, so who was coming?
He walked through the hall and pushed the door into the conference room.
Cedric and his parents stood by the door. Mr. Amos Diggory was the director of the Department of Magical Creatures of 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 fast Bulgarian with his black-haired parents
On the other side, Fleur was chattering in French with her mother. Fleur's sister Gabrielle was holding her mother's hand and waving her other hand to Harry. Harry also waved and grinned.
Then he turned around and saw three unexpected people.
Mrs. Weisley, Bill Weisley, and Sirius stood in front of the fireplace, looking at him with a smile.
"Surprise!" Sirius said with a playful smile, opening his arms to Harry.
Harry's heart was relieved, and he walked forward with a smile and hugged Sirius.
"We wanted to come and watch your game, Harry!" Mrs. Weisley also leaned over and kissed Harry's cheek, "Thanks to Professor McGonagall, she agreed to let us 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 that your match against the Horntail was so exciting, it was incredible!"
Harry noticed that Fleur Delacour looked at Bill with interest over his mother's shoulder.
It can be seen that she was curious about Bill's long hair and dragon tooth earrings.
"You are so nice," Harry whispered to Sirius and Mrs. Weasley, "I was wondering who would come, Dursley..."
"Don't mention that idiot to me," Sirius said angrily, "They are not worthy of being your family!"
Mrs. Weasley also pursed her lips.
She always avoided criticizing the Dursleys in front of Harry, but every time she heard their names, her eyes would be angry.
"It's good to be back," Bill said, looking at the meeting room, "I haven't seen this place for five years. Is the portrait of the mad knight still there? Is his name Sir Cadogan?"
"Oh, it's still there." Harry said, Sir Cadogan was guarding the Gryffindor common room last year.
"Where is the Fat Lady?" Bill asked again.
"She was there when I was in school," Mrs. Weasley interrupted, "One day I didn't get back to the dormitory until four in the morning, and she scolded me severely..."
"What are you doing outside the dormitory at four in the morning?" Bill looked at his mother in surprise.
Mrs. Weisley smiled, her eyes sparkling.
"Your father and I went out for a walk, but he was caught by the caretaker at the time, Apollyon Pringle." Then she looked at Sirius, "Speaking of night walks, Sirius is more experienced, right?"
"Of course," Sirius said proudly, "If we talk about the number of night walks, no student dares to say that I am second!"
"Fred and George are not good enough?" Harry said in surprise.
"They are not qualified either!" Sirius laughed.
Under the leadership of Sirius, the "night walk expert", they talked and laughed while strolling around the castle.
Unconsciously, the evening star pushed open the night curtain, and the moonlight sprinkled silver gauze.
Night has come.
The last game is about to begin.