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Chapter 517: It's All According to the Script
Chapter 517: It's All According to the Script
After spending some time in the changing room, Kyle and the others returned to the stands.
Professor McGonagall had arranged for them to sit in the spectator stand next to the judges' seats.
"You'll have to wait a little longer..." she said, "until all the champions are out, then the scoring will begin."
Kyle nodded in understanding.
After Professor McGonagall left, he settled in like an ordinary spectator and watched the match with ease.
It felt pretty good.
On the field, Krum and Fengrong had already reached the third task.
However, as Kyle watched, he suddenly realized that he had inadvertently increased the difficulty of the competition.
Because he had already passed the third task, Krum and Fengrong happened to encounter two dragons.
In other words, the simplest method of distracting the dragons while one person retrieves the stone was no longer viable. They had to face the dragons directly to complete the task.
But the problem was that after going through the first two tasks, their conditions had deteriorated to the extreme. Fengrong's face was pale, and she was breathing heavily. Krum also held a Firebolt, but his arm was bleeding.
To be honest, this was somewhat beyond Kyle's expectations... He had thought that their exhaustion would be less severe, as strictly speaking, they only had to face one task.
"Well done." A hoarse voice came from behind.
Kyle turned around and saw Professor Moody.
He looked very pleased, and his magical eye was twitching in its socket.
"That Summoning Charm you used was both decisive and elegant... It would have been even better if you had used it in the first task, as the Spirit Cat is slower than the Firebolt."
He continued to comment on Kyle's performance, "And the third task was the most surprising. Bold, decisive, and confident... If you want to join the Aurors, I could make the decision to let you join the Auror Office based on this competition alone."
"What do you say? Are you interested?"
"Thank you, Professor," Kyle said, "but I'm still a student. Let's talk about these things after I graduate."
He was well aware that the boldness and decisiveness were all part of the script, pre-arranged beforehand.
However, the effect seemed pretty good, even Professor Moody with his magical eye couldn't see through it, so others probably wouldn't either... Perhaps except for Dumbledore, but it wouldn't make much difference.
Seeming to sense Kyle's refusal, Professor Moody nodded and didn't say anything further.
Kyle turned back to watch the match.
"Oh, so close... Be careful... My goodness, I thought she had it."
"That was dangerous, ouch... Krum's move was really risky."
...
About ten minutes later, the spectators erupted in cheers and applause once more.
After all, they were the best students from two schools, and with prior knowledge about the dragons, it was naturally impossible for them to be stumped.
Fengrong used a strange hypnosis spell, making the dragon drowsy... Kyle felt that the dragon handlers would probably want to learn this spell, as they usually needed five or six people to cast the Stupor Charm to put the dragon to sleep.
As for Krum, he chose a method similar to Kyle's. He first lured the dragon away and then turned to retrieve the stone.
However, he chose the wrong target. In the moment he got the stone, he was swept away by the Hungarian Horntail's tail. When he emerged, he couldn't even stand, and others had to help carry him to Madam Pomfrey.
But ten minutes later, he returned. Although he looked much more listless, he could at least walk on his own.
"Do you believe it now, Karkaroff?" Dumbledore said, "Our Madam Pomfrey will surely return a lively champion to you."
The tense expression on Karkaroff's face finally faded... Although Krum's current state had nothing to do with being lively, it was still much better than before.
"Hogwarts has an excellent healer," he said.
"Now that all the champions are here," Bagman stood up and announced loudly, "let's begin the most exciting part! Let's score the champions' performances... I'm sure you've all been waiting for this moment."
Everyone immediately turned their attention to him.
"The maximum score for each champion is ten points," Bagman said, "starting with Fengrong Delacour. Let's begin..."
He raised his wand towards the sky, and a long, silver ribbon-like substance shot out from his wand.
"Seven points!"
Next was Chris, who also received a score of seven points.
"It's probably because she lost points in the second task," Cedric whispered, "her performance back then wasn't that impressive."
Professor Dumbledore then gave an eight, and Madame Maxime a nine.
When it was Karkaroff's turn...
"What?" George exclaimed in disbelief, "Two points? That's too low! She passed all the tasks, didn't she?"
However, Bagman seemed not to have heard him.
Next was Viktor Krum...
Bagman and Karkaroff's scores were both ten, and he scored higher than Fengrong.
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Then there was Madame Maxime... she couldn't quite match Karkaroff's level, and in the end, she also gave a score of five.
Finally, it was Kyle's turn.
"Ah, there's nothing more to say," Bagman said with a smile as he raised his wand, "Ten points, without a doubt!"
Following that, Chris also smiled and gave the same score.
As if they had discussed it beforehand, the four judges' scores were surprisingly consistent, all giving ten points.
Karkaroff was the last one, and he hesitated, seemingly recalling every mistake Kyle might have made.
Finally, he raised his wand and cast a number... nine.
"What?" Kyle hadn't even said anything yet when Fred angrily shouted, "Nine points? You despicable, biased guy, you don't deserve to be a judge..."
George also spoke up angrily, "You gave Krum ten points, was he better than Kyle?"
Everyone else was also furious... to be honest, although it wasn't a perfect score, nine points was already quite high, and everyone could accept it.
But the problem was, he had just given Krum a perfect score.
Anyone with a bit of intelligence and common sense could see that Kyle's performance in these three tasks was far better than Krum's... yet he scored lower.
With this comparison, everyone found it hard to accept... the bias was too obvious, wasn't he ashamed?
However, facing these voices, Karkaroff didn't care at all, not even turning his head, as if he hadn't heard a thing.
"Hey, catch this!"
At that moment, amidst the dense crowd, a paper ball resembling a parchment suddenly flew towards them, aiming straight for Karkaroff's head.
"Throwing a paper ball... huh, a child's prank."
Karkaroff disdainfully reached out his hand, intending to swat it away.
But the moment his hand touched the paper ball, it exploded... a grayish-black, foul-smelling liquid splattered all over Karkaroff's face.
Karkaroff's face first turned pale, then quickly changed from blue to purple, and finally became deathly pale.
Ugh...
The stench was unbearable; for a moment, he almost fainted from the smell.
Everyone around, including Professor Dumbledore and Madame Maxime, unconsciously took a step back... some used the Levitation Charm, others the Whirlwind Charm, some covered their noses, everyone did what they could to try and block the spreading stench.
Seeing this, Karkaroff's face grew even more unpleasant.
It wasn't because no one came to help him, but because he had just realized that some of the foul liquid had splashed into his mouth.
(End of Chapter)
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