Chapter 501: The Three Champions
Chapter 501: The Three Champions
For the first time, everyone felt that Saturday seemed to drag on endlessly.
Time seemed to slow down, and even the usually entertaining Wizard's Chess and Snapdragon Cards became dull and boring. Every time they played, they would look up and check if the sky outside had darkened.
From morning to noon, and then to the afternoon... it felt like an entire month had passed, and finally, the sky darkened.
When the moon rose, everyone eagerly made their way to the Great Hall.
Perhaps because there had been banquets for two consecutive days, the carefully prepared and abundant dishes were not as popular.
Everyone took a few bites and put down their utensils, then stood up from time to time to check if Dumbledore had finished eating.
"Sit down." Hermione finally said impatiently when Ron stood up for the third time, "The Goblet of Fire needs time to make its decision, and even Professor Dumbledore won't announce the results early."
"How do you know?" Ron asked, "Do you know the time just by putting names into the Goblet of Fire?"
"Of course not!" Hermione said impatiently, "Haven't you ever read 'Hogwarts: A School History'? It's all written in there."
"I don't think many people would read such a thick book," Ron muttered, but seeing that Hermione was about to get angry, he quickly changed his tone, "Well, can you please do me a favor and tell us what time it is?"
Everyone around them turned to look.
"The book only mentions that the Goblet of Fire will go out after a day," Hermione said, "But the Goblet of Fire was only brought out at the end of yesterday's banquet. According to the time, it should be around 7:30 pm."
Ron checked the time; it was 7:10 pm... which meant they still had to wait for twenty minutes?
He picked up a plate of pudding in frustration, not eating it but poking it with his fork while asking,
"What do you think? Who will be the Hogwarts Champion?"
Harry looked around and saw Fred and George at the other end of the table before lowering his voice, "I hope it's Angelina."
"I think it would be great if Fred was chosen too." Ron said, "Then I would be the brother of a champion, and Krum might even give me an autograph."
Hermione let out a mocking laugh.
"But I think it could also be Hermione." Harry suddenly remembered that there was another person among them who had submitted their name, and quickly added, "Your end-of-term scores are even higher than Angelina's."
Hermione, rarely blushing, tried to appear as calm as usual.
"That's only because I chose all the courses last year, so my scores look higher."
"No, I think Harry makes sense." Ron nodded seriously, "You're always the first to complete the professors' tasks, and even Snape can't find any faults with you."
Hermione turned her head in surprise, looking at Ron as if she had just met him for the first time.
In fact, after learning that Hermione had thrown her name into the Goblet of Fire, Ron didn't say anything, but Hermione could tell that he was still a bit uncomfortable... It was obvious that from the morning, Ron had not taken the initiative to talk to her.
So Hermione never expected that Ron would say such a thing.
However, Ron didn't notice this. He continued poking the pudding with his fork and said, "If you really become the champion... can you help me get Krum's autograph?"
Hermione's face quickly turned cold, and she grabbed a book and threw it at him.
The thick "Medieval Magical Text Evolution" hit the table in front of Ron, startling him so much that he almost dropped the fork in his hand.
"What are you doing? That book almost hit me!" Ron shouted in anger.
But Hermione had already turned her head away and didn't look at him again.
Finally, after twenty minutes, the last dessert also disappeared.
Dumbledore stood up, and the Great Hall instantly became silent.
"Well, the Goblet of Fire is about to make its decision." Dumbledore said, seeming as nervous and expectant as everyone else.
He waved his wand, and half of the candles in the Great Hall went out, leaving only the ones in the pumpkin lanterns.
In this dimly lit state, the Goblet of Fire looked brighter than ever, emitting dazzling light from its blue-white flames.
At the Hufflepuff table, Cedric kept taking deep breaths, "I've never been this nervous before.
"It's almost time," Mikael, who had been keeping an eye on the time, said.
As the hands of the clock reached half past seven, the flames in the tall goblets suddenly turned red, and sparks crackled like a volcano about to erupt.
Then, a tongue of fire shot into the air, and from within it, a charred piece of parchment flew out... The Great Hall fell silent, and everyone held their breath.
A large hand caught the parchment.
"The Durmstrang Champion..." Dumbledore announced loudly, "...is Viktor Krum!"
"Fantastic!"
"It's Krum..."
"No surprise there!"
Applause and cheers swept through the Great Hall.
Krum stood up from the Slytherin table, and Ludo Bagman immediately approached him, leading him to the adjacent room.
"Well done, Viktor!" Karkaroff boomed.
As the applause gradually subsided, a second piece of parchment emerged from the Flame Cup.
"The Beauxbatons Champion..." Dumbledore said, "...is Fleur Delacour!"
Next to Cona, Fleur stood up gracefully and walked lightly between the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables.
The applause this time wasn't as enthusiastic as before, as many people stared blankly at her, and Ron's mouth hung open in a daze.
When they snapped out of it, Fleur had also entered the adjacent room.
The Great Hall fell silent again, but unlike the previous two times, this silence was filled with a palpable, intense excitement.
The moment of truth for the Hogwarts Champion was approaching...
As the third piece of parchment appeared in Dumbledore's hand, nearly half of the people couldn't help but stand up.
"The Hogwarts Champion..." Dumbledore looked at the name on the parchment and suddenly smiled, "...is Kyle..."
Without warning, Kyle felt his head buzzing as if hundreds of Billywigs were having a party in his brain, making it impossible for him to hear anything.
In fact, the Great Hall had indeed fallen silent.
Deafening cheers roared like a tsunami, threatening to lift the ceiling.
"I knew it!"
Kyle felt himself being hugged... it was Cona, who was so excited that her ears had turned red from jumping and shouting.
"Are you not considering my feelings at all?" Cedric said helplessly.
Despite his words, he was equally excited and hugged Kyle, "Well done, I knew you could do it!"
At the same time, Autumn, Fred, and George also rushed over, and the group surrounded Kyle.
"Sorry to interrupt you," Dumbledore had to remind them, "The other two Champions are still waiting, so you'd better let him pass quickly."
Everyone immediately parted, making way for Kyle.
On the main table, Chris looked at him with a smile and pointed to the side door, indicating that he should hurry over.
Next to him, Karkaroff couldn't help but smile when he heard Kyle's name.
After the Triwizard Tournament rules were confirmed, he specifically investigated the situation of the Hogwarts students.
The first one he found was Kyle, who had received the Order of Merlin Second Class.
But Karkaroff didn't think much of it.
A giant over three meters tall, along with the famous Magical Creature Specialist Silvanos Kettleburn, with these two, even a Muggle could take down that werewolf.
So, in his opinion, Kyle's Second Class Order was just a lucky kid and two generous wizards, plus Dumbledore's influence... nothing more.
What he was more concerned about was Kyle's age, barely fifteen years old, almost exactly on the age line.
Krum, on the other hand, was already eighteen years old, and for two students who hadn't graduated yet, a three-year gap was huge... It was like handing the championship to them.
Durmstrang was sure to win!
Just then, Dumbledore happened to turn around.
"Albus," Karkaroff couldn't help but smile, "Isn't he the youngest Order of Merlin member? Hogwarts is truly a breeding ground for talent."
"Albus, if we're talking about talent, the most popular legend is at Durmstrang."
The two looked at each other and then simultaneously broke into genuine smiles.
(End of Chapter)
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