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Chapter 891: A Daring Gamble
Chapter 891: A Daring Gamble
A loud blast echoed, and the five judges, who had been seated at the judging table, suddenly reappeared outside the competition arena, their faces grim. They had clearly been displeased by the students' unruly behavior.
"That was close," Bagman said, still shaken as he patted his chest. He glared at the instigator of this chaos. No one could have anticipated that Karkaroff's "explanation" would incite such fury from the audience, leading them to hurl curses at the judges' table.
"Albus, this is how Hogwarts treats..." Karkaroff tried to shift the blame onto Dumbledore.
"That's enough, Karkaroff," Madame Maxime cut in impatiently as cheers erupted from the stands. "I can't fathom why you gave Anderson a single point. Don't tell me it's because he's a Muggle-born wizard. Now, how do you plan to fix this mess?"
Karkaroff's face darkened, and he huffed in displeasure before turning and stalking away.
"What an unpleasant man," Bagman remarked, watching Karkaroff's retreating back. "I can't understand why Durmstrang would choose someone like that as their headmaster. No wonder Durmstrang has such a poor reputation."
"Let's focus on resolving this issue, Ludo," Dumbledore said gently.
"How do we resolve it?" Bagman asked. "The only way to fix this is to remove Karkaroff from the judging panel. He's incapable of being impartial and fair. He's nothing but trouble." He added, "Though I must say, I've never seen the students of Hogwarts so united!"
"One could say that Mr. Anderson has an extraordinary charm," Dumbledore agreed. He turned to Crouch. "Bartemius, what are your thoughts on this matter?"
"The tournament must go on," Crouch said slowly, as if waking from a daze. "If necessary, we can exclude Karkaroff from the judging panel."
"I have no objections," Madame Maxime said, sharing a similar sentiment towards Karkaroff. "But I don't want a repeat of what just happened."
Some things, once done, could not be undone. But to blatantly disregard the crowd's anger and treat them like fools required a special kind of stupidity.
"Why don't we take the average of the remaining four judges' scores to fill in for Karkaroff?" Bagman suggested. "That should be a fairer representation."
"Very well," Crouch agreed. There needed to be a solution, and with Karkaroff having fled in embarrassment, the tournament must continue without him.
"I concur," Madame Maxime said.
"Then let's return to the table and recalculate the scores," Dumbledore said pleasantly, a faint smile on his face, though his eyes held no mirth.
Even Dumbledore had not anticipated that things would escalate to this extent, and while Karkaroff was the instigator, it certainly reflected poorly on Hogwarts.
The four of them returned to the damaged judges' table, and with Karkaroff's absence, the crowd ceased their barrage of objects.
After all, their ire was solely directed at Karkaroff.
Dumbledore waved his wand lightly, repairing the table that had been blasted by curses. Once the others were seated, Bagman cleared his throat and said, "Due to unforeseen circumstances, Mr. Karkaroff will no longer be part of the judging panel for the Triwizard Tournament. His position will be filled by taking the average of the remaining four judges' scores. And so..."
Full marks! Full marks! Full marks! The crowd erupted in cheers, though a few scattered jeers directed at Karkaroff could still be heard.
This outcome was satisfactory, as the most important thing to them was that Karkaroff was no longer a judge. The champions of the Triwizard Tournament would now receive fair scores.
"Ahem, let the tournament continue!" Bagman shouted above the din of the crowd. "Let us welcome our second champion of the day, Miss Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons!"
In the stands, Albert sat beside Isabelle, the two of them sharing a bag of popcorn as they whispered to each other. At the sound of Bagman's voice, they turned their attention to the competition arena.
"What do you think Miss Delacour's strategy will be?" Isabelle asked, taking the cup of tea from Albert and sipping through a straw.
"I'm not sure, but I doubt she'll directly confront the Welsh Green," Albert speculated, his eyes on Fleur as she surveyed her surroundings. "I think she'll try to find a way to steal the golden egg."
"Maybe she'll use the Eye-Dazzling Hex," Katrina interjected.
"Crouch is more likely to use that hex; it fits Durmstrang's style," Albert mused. "Madame Maxime will probably have her play to her strengths."
"Strengths?" Katrina asked, her tone odd. "Batting her eyelashes at the dragon?"
Fleur began by attempting to summon the golden egg with the Accio charm, but to no avail.
She had no choice but to proceed with her original plan, using the surrounding rocks as cover as she inched closer to the Welsh Green.
Fortune seemed to favor her, as the dragon showed no inclination to leave its nest, allowing her to close the distance. With a well-aimed spell, she struck the dragon's eye, causing it to fall into a half-hypnotized state.
"My word, Miss Delacour has hypnotized a dragon! Look, she's about to succeed!" Bagman exclaimed excitedly.
Fleur stealthily approached the dragon's nest, intending to retrieve the golden egg right under the Welsh Green's nose. Incredibly, the dragon started snoring, and a stream of fire shot out, causing Fleur to dodge clumsily. Her skirt caught fire, and she had to retreat behind the rocks to extinguish the flames with a jet of water from her wand.
As she prepared to make another attempt, the Welsh Green dragon stirred.
"Oh... she was so close! What a pity!" Bagman couldn't help but exclaim. Fleur had almost reached the nest and was about to grab the golden egg.
"Do you think she'll succeed?"
"She might, but it's a risky move. I wouldn't recommend it; she's gambling with her life," Albert said, guessing Fleur's plan.
Should the dragon wake up before the dragon handler could react, Fleur would be in mortal peril.
However, Fleur seemed determined to persist, hoping to replicate her previous success. But hypnotizing a dragon was no easy feat.
As Bagman had said, dragon hide was resistant to most magic. Fleur's repeated attempts eventually angered the Welsh Green, and it flew towards the rocks where Fleur was hiding, claws outstretched.
"Watch out... Oh my, that was too close for comfort," Bagman exclaimed.
Fleur had almost met the same fate as Cedric, but she was lucky. As the claws swept towards her, she dove to the side, narrowly dodging the lethal blow.
However, the dragon opened its mouth, ready to burn its provoking prey to ashes. Just as the dragon handlers were about to rush in.
Fleur, lying on the ground, aimed her wand at the dragon's eyes and cast a spell.
Once again, the dragon was hypnotized.
Fleur crawled towards the dragon's nest and grabbed the golden egg hidden among the pile of dragon eggs.
"Look, she's done it!" Bagman's expression suddenly froze. "Watch out! Oh my, it's waking up!"
The Welsh Green glared menacingly at Fleur, clearly annoyed by the egg thief before it. It opened its mouth and breathed a stream of fire towards her.
Fleur was petrified! The audience let out frightened screams, some even closing their eyes in terror.
Just as the dragon's breath was about to burn Fleur to a crisp, the fire suddenly went out.
The dragon handlers, who had been ready from the start, rushed in as soon as Fleur grabbed the golden egg. They extinguished the breath that was about to turn her into ashes and quickly stunned the dragon to finally regain control of the situation.
Fleur's score wasn't very high. Aside from Professor Maxime, who gave her a 9, Dumbledore and Bagman both gave her 8 points, and Crouch gave her 7, for a total of 40 points.
"Miss Delacour's tactic did succeed, but unfortunately, the ending was a bit of a mess, which directly affected her final score!" Bagman commented. "If Miss Delacour had gotten the golden egg and safely escaped the dragon, her score would've been at least 45 points or higher."
"She's lucky that the dragon handlers reacted quickly. Otherwise, she would've become a charred corpse." Albert thought that if it weren't for the dragon handlers' intervention, Fleur Delacour would've indeed become a pile of ashes in this 'fairy tale' world of Harry Potter.
"Looks like I have to be extra careful." Albert muttered to himself. Although the probability was low, he didn't want to end up like Diggory by some unforeseen accident.
Barty Crouch Jr.! He had to be prepared and not give that guy any chance to use his 'experience packets.'
"What's wrong?" Isabelle asked.
"Nothing." Albert replied as he watched the busy dragon handlers. "I just think this Triwizard Tournament is really unreliable. No wonder it got discontinued."
"Then why are you still participating?" Katrina asked, confused.
"To fulfill someone's wish." Albert said calmly.
"Whose wish?"
Albert didn't intend to answer, and Isabelle already knew the answer. They exchanged glances, both deciding not to tell Katrina.
After the dragon handlers prepared everything and blew their whistles, Bagman shouted into the microphone, "Let's welcome our third champion of the day, Viktor Krum from Durmstrang Institute!"
Krum's entrance was met with a roar from the audience, especially from his group of fans, who were cheering for him.
"Both Mr. Anderson and Miss Delacour brought us unexpected surprises." Bagman shouted gleefully. "I wonder what surprise Mr. Krum has in store for us!"
Krum remained calm and collected. After observing his surroundings, he boldly strode towards the dragon, wand raised, in full view of the audience.
The audience was stunned.
What was Krum trying to do?
They soon got their answer.
Krum was indeed bold. After injuring the dragon's eyes, he continued to cast spells, attempting to lure the dragon away from its nest to create an opportunity for himself to retrieve the golden egg.
"So, you were right, but why didn't you use the Eye-Dazzling Hex yourself?" Katrina asked, curious as to why Albert hadn't used that hex.
"Look at the dragon's nest." Albert reminded her, "Destroying the eggs wouldn't get a high score."
"You could lure the dragon away first and then use the Eye-Dazzling Hex." Katrina didn't understand why Albert hadn't used that approach.
"Hitting a moving target is a lot harder than you think. If the spell misses, the champion is in big trouble. The dragon won't give you many chances." Albert felt that Katrina's idea was too naive; in a life-or-death situation, one wouldn't have the luxury to aim calmly at the dragon's eyes.
"Mr. Krum is going for it! He's showing extraordinary courage—yes, he's got the golden egg!" Bagman shouted.
However, Krum had created a big problem, and a rampaging dragon was no joke.
This was much more exciting than Fleur and Krum's attempts.
Many in the audience were wide-eyed, intently watching how the dragon handlers would subdue the rampaging dragon.
A large group of people fighting a dragon was indeed a rare sight.
"Ahem, let's take a look at Mr. Krum's final score." Bagman coughed lightly, bringing everyone's attention back to the judges' table.
This time, all four judges gave Krum 7 points.
"Mr. Krum's score is obviously on the low side. Luring the dragon away and then using the Eye-Dazzling Hex would've been a better choice, but he didn't do that." Bagman provided a reasonable explanation to prevent another uproar from the audience. "He shouldn't have destroyed those eggs. As we all know, dragon eggs are precious. If they hadn't been destroyed, Mr. Krum would've definitely scored 45 points or higher."
(End of Chapter)
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