Archaeologists at Hogwarts

Chapter 396 Competition
395 Competition
Now, the old tension returned to Harry.

In the first part of the competition, both he and Cedric had been hinted by Professor Haimer in advance, in order to find out who put their names into the Goblet of Fire.Although the plan was interrupted later because of Harry's weird behavior, it at least let Harry know the result of the game in advance.

And he really felt that his own life was more important than his score.

But this time is different.

Not only did they know in advance that the content of the second part of the competition was to find treasures in the Black Lake, but Professor Haimo was in charge of the subsequent competitions—how could this work?
Harry felt deeply disturbed by this, which may be due to James' instructions to him, or it may be because of Professor Highmore's consistent style-he has always been unscrupulous.

Unfortunately, no matter what Harry thought, time would never stop like that.

Finally came the day when the game started.

Harry didn't expect to be able to sleep so deeply at the end. If Ron hadn't woken him up, he would probably have slept forever-it might be best to miss the game time.

"time to go."

Ron's eyes seemed to say, "If you don't get up again, I will have to drag you out of the bed."

Hermione was waiting for them when they packed up and went into the common room.

"It won't be a problem, is it?" She didn't feel the tension in her tone at all: "After all, you have already practiced secretly once, it's very simple, right? If it doesn't work, you can just use that The magic is done."

"I've made this plan a long time ago." Harry said while taking a deep breath, "Unless Professor Highmore keeps his hand, but I don't think that's possible."

"Oh?" Hermione was taken aback by Harry's awareness. She seemed to want to say something more, probably a suggestion or something, but when the words came out of her mouth, it turned into: "That's great, what you learned It's earlier than me, only I haven't—”

"Hey!" Ron interrupted immediately: "Don't talk about it, okay, Hermione? We have to send him to the auditorium for breakfast quickly, and if he can't eat, we have to help feed him one by one." Come on, let's go."

"I don't need someone to feed me." Harry refused, but his body was pushed out of the passage together by the two.

After they finished their breakfast, they walked out of the castle. It was obvious that the seats that surrounded the Quidditch pitch in November last year were now arranged on the other side of the lake. Find the right seat so you don't miss a scene.

"That way they won't be able to see what's going on under the surface of the lake." Hermione said happily, even forgetting that she already knew the good news.

"I'll see you later." Harry gave each of them a hug, then parted ways and walked towards the referees, who were seated at another table covered with a golden tablecloth by the water.Cedric, Fleur, and Krum stood at the referee's table, watching Harry run towards them at full speed.

"The referees haven't arrived yet."

Cedric pointed to the empty seats and said, "It may take a while, after all, it's not time for the game to start yet."

Harry nodded. He looked at each other with Fleur and Krum, and he could see a lot of sympathy in their eyes-now they are all from the same starting point, and the only thing they have to deal with is that Professor Highmore doesn't know Since when was the difficulty set.

It's a tough wait, especially when there are so many people watching.

Harry didn't ask these people if they had found a way to breathe underwater, and they certainly wouldn't be here if they hadn't.And he wasn't in the mood to chat, but seized the time to keep thinking about the melody of summoning the rune snake in his head-even though it only had one head left, it should still be useful.

After I don't know how long it has passed.

"They're here!"

Cedric, who caught a glimpse of the distance by chance, exclaimed, "Look at who that person is—Minister Dumbledore is here too!"

Dumbledore walked in the front of the crowd, standing next to him were Mrs. Maxime and Headmaster McGonagall, and Scrimgeour followed behind them.

Then on the other side, Lockhart and Toby walked together with an unnatural expression on his face. The professor of ancient magic at Hogwarts pulled his hair down in front of his eyes again, covering all his emotions, so that people could not see what was going on in his heart. thinking about something.

Lockhart quietly glanced at Dumbledore in front of him, and he asked in a low voice: "I, you should know that I have a lot of questions to ask you now, right? Can you explain them one by one? For example—forget it, I'll just ask Already, have you completely torn your face?"

Toby's tone was calm.

"It's not there yet, but it will be soon."

Dumbledore, who was walking ahead, paused slightly, but quickly returned to normal.

He came before the four warriors and greeted them gently.

Especially when facing Harry, he said more.

"How about it, are you confident to face this test?"

Harry always felt that Dumbledore seemed to have something to say, and he was not only asking about the next second item, but perhaps more.

He glanced at the expressionless Professor Haimer, and finally did not answer, but nodded silently.

"That's good." Dumbledore said still kindly.

That seemed to be the announcement that the game was about to begin.

Scrimgeour pointed his wand to his throat, and said "Loudly".

"Listen everyone, our warriors are already in their positions. But before that, please allow me to introduce the new Minister of Magic of the United Kingdom. You should be familiar with him-Albus Dumbledore."

The students in the stands applauded enthusiastically, but Dumbledore just waved to them, and didn't preach anything like he used to in school.

After being instructed by Dumbledore's gaze, Scrimgeour went on to announce: "As soon as I blow the whistle, the second project will begin. They have a full hour to find the treasure hidden in the Black Lake. I counted Three. One two. Three!"

Shrill whistles echoed in the cold still air.Cheers and applause erupted from the stands.Harry didn't watch what the other warriors were doing, he just took off his shoes and socks twice, took out the handful of gill grass from his pocket, stuffed it into his mouth, and waded into the lake.

The familiar coldness came over Harry, and even though he had used it secretly once, Harry still found it hard to live before the herbal medicine worked.

There was a burst of laughter from the stands, and Harry knew he would look stupid at this moment, but what could he do.

But fortunately, this time passed quickly.

Suddenly, Harry felt as if an invisible pillow was covering his mouth and nose.As soon as he took a breath, he only felt his head spinning.His lungs were empty, and there was a sudden sharp pain on both sides of his neck——

it's time.

Harry plunged headlong into the lake water, swimming freely like a fish, and was submerged in the bottomless ripples in a blink of an eye.

The four warriors quickly disappeared into the lake in their own ways, and there was a lot of discussion in the stands, starting with non-stop discussions about who could come out first.

The people sitting on the referee's bench were also chatting constantly, but the atmosphere didn't seem so good.

Mrs. Maxim ignored Principal McGonagall's glaring gaze and said, "You're finally here, Dumbledore. I want to ask why there are two warriors at Hogwarts? And these two children said no." Throwing your name into the Goblet of Fire—is there anything you want to explain? Don't tell me the Ministry of Magic hasn't started investigating."

"This is indeed worthy of attention." Dumbledore easily threw the topic to Principal Durmstrang sitting on the other side: "Gidero, can I hear your opinion?"

Lockhart acted as if he had been stabbed suddenly by a needle. He almost jumped out of his seat, but Toby who was on the side pressed his shoulder with his palm in time and pushed him back abruptly.

"My opinion?" Lockhart smiled awkwardly: "What can I say? Accidents, this will always happen, no one can avoid accidents, right? I believe everyone will understand, anyway, Germany Armstrong has no objections, and especially their headmaster has none."

Maxim stared at Lockhart with an extremely strange gaze - even if someone said that he was Dumbledore's henchman, there would be no doubt at all.

"Is that so?"

Dumbledore said calmly, and then changed the subject: "And you, Toby. You have been at Hogwarts for so long, have you discovered anything new?"

Lockhart didn't even dare to look at Toby, he sat upright, his eyes staring straight ahead, as if he had been cast a holding spell.

"A new discovery?"

Toby had a puzzled tone at first, and then suddenly realized: "Oh, I really have one. Just a few days ago, it seemed that someone wanted to poach my assistant, that is Angela, you all know her. During that time, I had some troubles with her, and it was indeed a good time to be poached. But unfortunately, that person had no idea what Angela wanted, and just used his usual—how should I put it—ridiculous All right. Trying to impress her in his usual ridiculous way, but he has absolutely no idea what Angela wants."

"It turned out that it was because of that person. Not only did Angela return to Hogwarts willingly, but she also complained in my ears all day why she should be afraid of that person. I had to explain that it was because he was powerful and decisive. It looks like if I don't agree, I will deal with me with all my strength-what can I do, Minister? I want to hear your thoughts."

It was so quiet on the referee's seat that even if a needle fell, people could hear it clearly.

Under the eyes of a bunch of people, Dumbledore said calmly: "My suggestion? Before I say what I think, I want to ask you a question, Toby. Even if I say it, are you willing to follow it?" Did I say to do it?"

"About this." Toby said perfunctorily: "I used to be an archaeologist, and I couldn't do things according to my existing experience. I have long been used to thinking alone-so it is probably impossible, Minister, really Feel sorry."

"No." Dumbledore turned his head, stared at Toby with pale blue eyes and said, "You don't have to feel sorry for this at all. This is your own decision and your freedom. No one can do it." Blame you for that, unless—”

No one knew what Dumbledore's next words were, and no one knew what conditions followed his "unless".

Suddenly, there was a resounding cheer from the stands, a warrior had already swam out of the water, and in his hand was——it must not be a thing, but a human shape.It wasn't until Krum climbed to the shore in a daze that people saw that it was a living person.

"Krum is the first warrior to accomplish the goal." Scrimgeour glanced in Lockhart's direction and said, "I think their headmaster will be pleased by this."

Lockhart twitched the corners of his mouth in embarrassment. He glanced quietly at Dumbledore, who looked solemn, then immediately retracted his gaze, jumped up from his seat and said, "I have to take care of my students, see you later , everyone."

He simply took the opportunity to slip away.

Dumbledore saw all the appearance of that man, and at the same time noticed the stunned Slughorn in the stands.

The man was old Tom, who looked exactly like the young Voldemort, and he was sure to recognize him.

"Poor old dean." Toby smacked his mouth regretfully and said.

Before Dumbledore questioned Toby, another cheer rang out.

The second warrior who surfaced was Cedric. The treasure he found this time was even more exaggerated-it turned out to be the mysterious armor in the school.

"You should still remember it, minister." Toby said slowly, "You were the one who lifted the curse on it back then, and I'll let it thank you in person in a while."

Dumbledore hadn't moved his eyes since the armor surfaced.

"What have you done, Toby." He had already seen the man in the armor, the man whose name had been terrorized during the Wizarding Wars.

Voldemort, he's back again.

Toby didn't speak, he looked at the lake quietly.

Soon, the third warrior appeared.

This time the cheers almost stopped abruptly, and everyone could see clearly the "treasure" who was holding Harry's arms tightly and had a cold face.

"It seems that Severus' popularity is really not that great." Toby said regretfully, "I guess they won't welcome him back, but... just wait and see."

After being stimulated by three treasures one after another, the whole venue became silent, and everyone wanted to know what the last treasure was.

Time passed slowly, and the expression on Madam Maxim's face became more and more anxious.

However, the miracle did not happen.

Fu Rong only swam out of the water after the time expired, which means that she will not get any points in this competition and become No.1 from the bottom.

Everyone ran to the shore, except for Dumbledore who was still sitting a few seats away from Toby.

"Looks like we're going to lose our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor."

Toby's words made Dumbledore turn his head sharply, and he continued: "Fortunately, we have a new professor, what do you think of Snape? Oh, yes, I have one more thing to remind you, The devil in the armor is gone now, and I don't know how it disappeared, but it is estimated that it may stay with the missing professor-I can't control it, and I can't make any guarantees to you."

He stood up slowly and met Dumbledore's gaze condescendingly.

"I've never been used to passively accepting threats. I've always acted first. I think this can be regarded as one of Slytherin's outstanding qualities."

"So, it's up to you now, Minister Dumbledore."

(End of this chapter)