With extraordinary comprehension, I built a floating city at Hogwarts.

Page 287

"Harry Potter."

Chapter 312 The Six-Way Battle

When Dumbledore announced the name, everyone was stunned. The Great Hall was even quieter than when Hermione was chosen. No one understood why a fourth champion had appeared.

There was no applause. A buzzing sound began to fill the auditorium, like the swarms of angry bees.

Harry turned to look at Ron beside him, whose eyes were full of disappointment.

Looking around, he saw that all the Gryffindor students were staring at him with their mouths agape.

"I didn't put my name in," said Harry blankly. "You know I didn't."

They also looked blankly at him.

Until Dumbledore called him into the next room.

When he went in, all the faces in the portraits turned to look at him.

He saw a wrinkled witch dart out of her own picture frame and into the one next to it, which depicted a wizard with a walrus beard. The wrinkled witch began to whisper in his ear.

Hermione Granger, Viktor Krum, and Fleur Delacour were all gathered around the fire.

Against the backdrop of the flames, the three figures made a particularly strong impression.

Krum leaned against the fireplace mantle, keeping a slight distance from the other two, and hunched over, deep in thought, his eyes glancing at Hermione intentionally or unintentionally.

Hermione sat by the fireplace, engrossed in reading an open handwritten book, just as she would in the common room.

As Harry walked in, Fleur Delacour turned around and tossed her cascading silver hair.

"What's wrong?" Fleur asked Harry. "Do they want us to go back to the Great Hall?"

Fleur thought Harry had come in to deliver a message.

Hermione turned her head, saw Harry, gave him a puzzled look, but still smiled at him.

Seeing that familiar face made Harry feel as if he had suddenly fallen from the sky to solid ground.

Harry settled down, and a slight, forced smile appeared on his lips in response.

A flurry of footsteps sounded behind them, and Ludo Bagman entered the room. He grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him forward.

“This is too bizarre!” he muttered, gripping Harry’s arm tightly. “Absolutely too bizarre! Ladies and gentlemen…”

He walked to the fire and said to the other three, “Please allow me to introduce you—though it may seem incredible—this is the fourth warrior in the Triwizard Tournament!”

Hermione's eyes widened, somewhat unable to believe it.

Viktor Krum straightened up, looked Harry up and down, and a gloomy expression appeared on his arrogant face.

Fleur Delacour tossed her long hair, smiled sweetly, and said, "Oh, that's a funny joke, Mr. Bagman."

"A joke?" Bagman repeated, somewhat puzzled. "No, no, absolutely not! Harry Potter's name just came out of the Goblet of Fire!"

The door behind them was pushed open again, and a large group of people rushed in: Dumbledore, Karkaroff, Mrs. Maxime, Barty Crouch the Elder, Nymphadora Tonks, and Levin Green.

All the key figures involved in the Triwizard Tournament have gathered here.

Dumbledore pointed his wand, and the buzzing in the Great Hall was blocked behind the door.

"What on earth is going on, Dumbledore?"

Ms. Maxim straightened her tall and imposing figure

Her pretty head bumped against the chandelier filled with lit candles, and her large breasts, clad in a black satin dress, heaved violently.

“I’d like to know that too, Dumbledore,” said Professor Karkaroff—a cold smile on his face, his blue eyes as cold as ice. “The age discrepancy is one thing, but why is there an extra person?”

"Did you also have someone bring you the Goblet of Fire, Harry?" he asked calmly.

“I didn’t!” Harry exclaimed excitedly.

He frantically turned to his friends for help, “Hermione, you should know that I’ve been with you all last night, and Ron and the other Gryffindor students have been able to vouch for me all day today. I didn’t put my name on the ballot at all!”

Hermione nodded: "Harry is right. He stayed in the Gryffindor common room after the dinner party last night."

"Enough, stop explaining! Who knows if you guys were in cahoots?" Karkaroff said fiercely. "Who knows if you told your classmates about your cheating tricks?"

"Cough cough."

Finally, Levin's voice rang out, interrupting Karkaroff:

“Mr. Karkaroff, as the principal of Durmstrang, you must understand the mechanism of the Goblet of Fire.”

He looked around; everyone was looking at him.

Levin continued to explain, "One school corresponds to one spot. No matter how many warrior candidates a school submits, the Goblet of Fire will only select the strongest one."

"Even if Harry really did put his name into Hermione's way, all he could do was replace Hermione as a new champion of Hogwarts, not be on par with her—although I don't think Harry is capable of doing that at all."

Although what Levin said was true,

But his blunt words still made Harry a little embarrassed.

But Levin didn't care about his feelings and continued his analysis. "In other words, the appearance of a fourth name can only mean that, according to the Goblet of Fire's assessment, this three-way battle has a fourth school."

"I think that when the Triwizard Tournament was first established, it wasn't just about keeping the competition between the three schools forever. During the creation of the Goblet of Fire, we also considered adding new competing schools in the future."

The three headmasters exchanged glances, and finally Dumbledore nodded.

“You’re right, Mr. Green, the Goblet of Fire does indeed have the function of increasing the number of participating schools.”

“That’s right.” Levin smiled. “If you were to examine the Goblet of Fire on site, you would find that Harry Potter’s name does not belong to any of the three schools.”

Mrs. Maxim placed her hand on the Goblet of Fire, and after a moment, a look of surprise appeared on her face. "You're right, Harry was assigned to a blank school, not one of the three."

Then, Levin began his final analysis, "The authority over the Goblet of Fire has always been in the hands of you three headmasters. Harry might be able to cheat by putting his own name in, but he absolutely cannot add a school to the Goblet. To do that, either one of you headmasters has secretly cheated, or one of you needs to..."

The mastermind behind it all cast a powerful Confusion Charm on the Goblet of Fire.

Levin's analysis was well-reasoned and supported by evidence, leaving the two principals with no choice but to accept it.

Dumbledore nodded to Levin, then turned to the others: "Mr. Crouch, Mr. Bagman, you two are the objective judges, what do you think of this matter?"

"We must abide by the charter, which clearly stipulates that anyone whose name is ejected from the Goblet of Fire must participate in the championship competition."

Crouch said stiffly that half of his face was hidden in shadow and looked like a skeleton.

“Hey, Barty knows the rules by heart,” Bagman said, a smile spreading across his face.

Seeing Bagman's smile, Levin had a vague idea. This guy must be trying to turn the tables on Harry.

The title of savior still carries considerable weight in the magical world.

Unfortunately, with him and Hermione around, Bagman's struggle was destined to end in failure.

"I agree with them," Dumbledore finally said. "Someone must have framed Harry to force him to participate in the competition."

Upon hearing this, Levin couldn't help but admire Dumbledore's acting skills.

He knew perfectly well who did it, but at that moment he looked exceptionally innocent.

“I insist that my other students re-enroll,” Karkaroff said. His voice was no longer smooth, his smile had vanished, and his expression was extremely unpleasant. “You must put the Goblet of Fire back on the table, and we must keep adding names to it until each school produces two champions. That’s fair, Dumbledore.”

“We don’t know how this situation came about,” Dumbledore said to everyone gathered in the room. “However, in my opinion, having Harry participate in the tournament is not an advantage for Hogwarts, because he clearly doesn’t have the ability to compete for the championship. I think someone is trying to use this to kill Harry—we should be the ones to blame.”

We should be concerned about his safety.

0???????

"Ah, but Dumbledore—"

“My dear Lady Maxim, if you have another solution, I am all ears.” Dumbledore waited, but Lady Maxim did not speak; she simply glared at him angrily.

"Please allow me to interject; perhaps I have a solution." It was Levin again, offering a plan at this crucial moment.

Everyone looked at the youngest organizer.

"Because although the Goblet of Fire stipulates that anyone whose name is ejected from the Goblet of Fire must participate in the tournament, it does not stipulate that those who have not made a contract with the Goblet of Fire cannot participate in the competition."

Levin's words made everyone present think.

"Then we can bypass this rule, and the other two schools can each select an additional participant. The judges can still score these two extra participants. Ironically, the more participants the competition has, the more exciting it becomes. We can also add cooperative elements to the competition, creating a three-way battle."

The competition is sure to be even more exciting.

Everyone present nodded in agreement after hearing Levin's words.

"Furthermore, I believe that we wizards should not be swayed by a magical artifact made by a wizard. If we are really worried, we can sign an additional contract to address the special circumstances of this competition. In this way, everyone can still compete fairly for the championship."

.00

After Levin finished speaking, he calmly looked at the three principals in the room.

“That’s a good idea, Mr. Crouch, what do you think?” Karkaroff surprisingly agreed first.

He immediately realized that this was a good opportunity; Hogwarts, bound by established facts, had no choice but to accept Harry, this less-than-stellar warrior, into the competition.

He could easily pick out the strongest one besides Krum.

This plan is clearly in his favor.

Ms. Maxim's eyes flickered, and she agreed to the method.

“Since none of you have any objections, let’s proceed as planned.” Mr. Crouch squinted at Levin and agreed to the suggestion.

“Indeed, making you the organizer was our best decision.” Dumbledore looked at Levin with admiration.

As to which two young wizards would be most suitable, both Karkaroff and Ms. Maxim felt they needed to go back and study the matter carefully.

Bagman excitedly announced the time of the first match, and then left Hogwarts with Crouch and Tonks.

Before leaving, the female Auror finally gave in to Levin's insistence and gave him a deep hug.

"...Levin Green, this young man is just like his damn sister Jaina, always showing off and bossing people around, which only makes winning the championship more difficult."

On the way back to the Ministry of Magic, Crouch's gaunt face was very gloomy.

He has recently encountered obstacles at every turn in the ministry, and his decrees are no longer able to be implemented smoothly as before.

Seeing Levin's behavior today reminded him of the group of people who had colluded with him.

Gianna Proudmoore seems to have been causing him trouble.

Although with his current status and power, keeping these subordinates is not a problem.

However, these things took up too much of his energy and really bothered him.